Official 2012 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[amavir281]

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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. 👍

 

[ipizzy]

Real deal: >275!! High enough to be personally identifying, so I don't want to be more specific... sorry guys 😳

What I did:

1. Gunner Training, largely finished with banking before started doing any qbanks. 100% banked, 89% mastery by test day
2. First Aid 3x, spread out over 3-4 months
3. RR Path 1x, spread out over 1 month
4. Kaplan qbank 1x, spread out over 3 months; 85% correct
5. UWorld qbank 1x, spread out over 3 months; 90% correct


Took NBMEs 7, 11, 12, and 13, scores were in 265-275 range.

Most important for me was studying hard and getting the most possible out of the first two years of med school. After that, GT was absolutely essential in my case; I often got bored reading review books and had a hard time focusing on them, but GT felt more like a game and it was kind of addictive. I also knew that 1) I tend to panic when I feel time pressure and 2) I was incapable of focusing and retaining info that I study in marathon 12-14 hr+ sessions, so I spread my studying out comfortably over the year.

Thank you to everyone who has posted before; advice on SDN has been incredibly helpful for me. And big congrats to everyone getting scores today!

 

[BrnEYEDgrl]

I took the exam on monday 6/18. Had 6 weeks to study, which at about 5 weeks I was getting burnt out and starting to feel like I was forgetting stuff I had known a few weeks back. This is my breakdown and the resources I used:

NBME 7, 12 weeks out to get a baseline: 219
NBME 11, 4 weeks out: 247
UWSA 1, 2 weeks out: 263
UWSA 2, 1 week out: 265
UW 1st pass: low 70s%
UW 2nd pass: low 90s%

I used FA throughout 1st and 2nd year so I was pretty familiar with it. I went though it in-depth one time during my 6 weeks, then would just refer when needed.

Pathoma: HIGHLY recommend! I got a number of questions on my exam correct because of a few one-liners out of his book. He does an awesome job explaining basic principles to help you understand a concept, rather than just memorizing it. He was the only resource I used during my first 2 weeks of studying and my score jumped up to 247. I re-listened to a few of my weak sections the week before my exam and was glad that I did.

UW: cannot stress this enough!!! I would say that more than 50% of my test on Monday was a question that I had in UW, maybe not exactly the same, the real test seems to give you more labs, vitals, etc. that you don't really need to answer the question, but they were close enough. A lot of the figures on my exam I had seen in UW too. If I had to do it again I would have gone through UW one more time, at least the ones I missed or had. marked

Goljan: I listened to him throughout second year with each system course and loved him but only listened to a few lectures throughout my board studying. I would say his first few hours when he discusses cell injury, hypoxia, etc. are the best, but if you really want to understand a concept then pathoma is better, in my opinion.

I also went through all of the questions in the Red robbins questions book. I think these are a good representation of the real test questions in terms of length and the fact that they give you a lot of extra information that you usually don't need to answer the question, such as BMI, BP, pulse, etc.

Pharm: FA is definitely all I needed. All of the drugs on my exam were 1st order questions and super high yield, nothing tricky.

Micro: Most of the micro on my exam was high yield, straight from FA. There was one parasite question that you had to know what it looked like to answer the question. I looked it up on wiki after the section and the picture on the test was straight from wiki, but probably not worth stressing over for 1 question.

I am absolutely terrible at biochem and just went through the UW biochem questions a few times and felt very prepared for the questions on the test.

My exam was pretty heavy on cardio and respiratory but other than these subjects it had very little emphasis on concepts.

I think I had 3 embryo questions, all I recognized from UW or FA.

I had quite a bit of anatomy, maybe like 2-3 per section, many were easy points that everyone knows but there were a few difficult questions, overall I would say 1-2 that weren't in UW or FA.

The night before my test I went through the rapid review section in FA which is SUPER high yield. I would say at least 50% of the test can be easily answered if you know this section cold!

There were probably 10 questions on my test that I had absolutely no idea what was going on and that couldn't be answered using FA. Around half of these were ethical type questions, which were very subjective or just terminology that are not in FA. The other 2 were molecular biology/lab technique questions that I may have learned in undergrad but haven't seen since then.

I am a very slow reader and I finished most of the blocks with 12-15 minutes left, which gave me plenty of time to go back and look back over the questions I had marked, which I don't know if that was really a good thing because I know of a few that I changed from the right to wrong answer... :-/

Anyway, I will update when I get my score. Hope this helps! Good luck to everyone!

Got my score today: >260, 90

I feel so truly blessed! If anyone has any questions please feel free to PM me! My Path section was the most narrow and I did pathoma 1 time at the beginning of studying and then listened to other sections again the last few days before my test and thought he did an awesome job and was super high yield for my test. Also, practice questions!

 

[GTP]

Real deal: >275!! High enough to be personally identifying, so I don't want to be more specific... sorry guys 😳

What I did:

1. Gunner Training, largely finished with banking before started doing any qbanks. 100% banked, 89% mastery by test day
2. First Aid 3x, spread out over 3-4 months
3. RR Path 1x, spread out over 1 month
4. Kaplan qbank 1x, spread out over 3 months; 85% correct
5. UWorld qbank 1x, spread out over 3 months; 90% correct


Took NBMEs 7, 11, 12, and 13, scores were in 265-275 range.

Most important for me was studying hard and getting the most possible out of the first two years of med school. After that, GT was absolutely essential in my case; I often got bored reading review books and had a hard time focusing on them, but GT felt more like a game and it was kind of addictive. I also knew that 1) I tend to panic when I feel time pressure and 2) I was incapable of focusing and retaining info that I study in marathon 12-14 hr+ sessions, so I spread my studying out comfortably over the year.

Thank you to everyone who has posted before; advice on SDN has been incredibly helpful for me. And big congrats to everyone getting scores today!

CONGRATS man. When did you finish banking gt? When do you suggest others should reach 100% banked? Ie how long before writing the exam? Thanks

Also, I'm interested in starting a bet to see if phloston will get a higher score than you

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

Real deal: >275!! High enough to be personally identifying, so I don't want to be more specific... sorry guys 😳

What I did:

1. Gunner Training, largely finished with banking before started doing any qbanks. 100% banked, 89% mastery by test day
2. First Aid 3x, spread out over 3-4 months
3. RR Path 1x, spread out over 1 month
4. Kaplan qbank 1x, spread out over 3 months; 85% correct
5. UWorld qbank 1x, spread out over 3 months; 90% correct


Took NBMEs 7, 11, 12, and 13, scores were in 265-275 range.

Most important for me was studying hard and getting the most possible out of the first two years of med school. After that, GT was absolutely essential in my case; I often got bored reading review books and had a hard time focusing on them, but GT felt more like a game and it was kind of addictive. I also knew that 1) I tend to panic when I feel time pressure and 2) I was incapable of focusing and retaining info that I study in marathon 12-14 hr+ sessions, so I spread my studying out comfortably over the year.

Thank you to everyone who has posted before; advice on SDN has been incredibly helpful for me. And big congrats to everyone getting scores today!

what a killer! >275 😵

 

[DocMur]

Obligatory statement about how I've been reading this forum throughout studying and feel the need to post as well. Sincerely though, everyone on here rocks for creating such a goldmine of advice and experience.

Score: 259/89

I took 7 weeks to study; definitely recommend less as in the beginning I was putting in very light days. I took the time because I thought I would be a little burned out from second year, but in hindsight 5 solid weeks would have been the definite way to go. Throughout the year I did Uworld (tutor or timed tutor in an organ system following our curriculum). I finished about 4 weeks away from the test with a 72% average. I also did almost all of the Goljan audio lectures throughout the year, following along in rapid review and annotating FA. My 7 weeks of studying consisted mostly of doing blocks of Uworld and reviewing it thoroughly. I only did 2 passes through FA as I had been using it all year and took my time reading it (looking up pictures or integrating with another section, etc.). I did not finish a second pass through Uworld (only about halfway through). I'm very glad I got through what I did because it had been some time since I had done questions on certain subjects. I skimmed rapid review, focusing on all the pictures, diagrams, and tables. I read on this forum about Goljan's high yield, which directly gave me 2 questions (or at least changed my answer from ehhh to BOOM). Goljan is the man, no doubt about it.

School CBSE (7 weeks out): 224
NBME 7 (3 weeks out): 247
UWorld assessment E1 (10 days out): 257
Uworld assessment E2 (4 days out): 265
USMLE free 143 (2 days out): 96%

If I were to do it over again I would still use the UWorld assessments because they actually provide explanations (!) so you can learn from your mistakes, BUT I would have done at least two more NBME (probably 13 and 14). I think the most important thing about taking practice tests is seeing improvement, rather than trying to judge is this the score I'm going to get. You're continually learning so ideally your score should keep going up.

Rather than describe test day, here is some good advice I received outside of the internet. If you're studying a subject and you're understanding everything you're reading and getting that warm fuzzy feeling inside... stop because you already know that subject so move on to the one that makes your stomach churn.

That's my story, and hope it helps. Good luck future Step 1 conqueror!

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

ipizzy did it feel like you had questions wrong when you left the test?

 

[JeffGarrett]

Hi there, You mentioned in your post that imaging was a huge study tool for you. Can state specifically what you used as a your imaging resource during boards time? Thank you.

I will post since this thread/site has helped me a ton and I hope I can return the favor.

NMBE 7: 235 (took right before started studying)
UWSA1: 264 (3 weeks out)
UWSA2: 263 (2 weeks out)
NMBE11: 263 (1 week out)
Real test: >265

Resources: Pathoma (best ever!), goljan audio (hated his book; pathoma a million times better), FA, UWORLD, BRS phys

Total dedicated study time was a little over 5 weeks, although I wish I would have taken it a week earlier. I was starting to get burnt out and felt ready. My biggest advice is study your ass off during the year. I did this and when it got time for dedicated study time I felt I already had a good grasp on most of the material so it was easy just to review everything. Also, I bought a year long Uworld subscription and started doing questions around november. I started off super slow (7 questions per hour). As the year went on and especially during dedicated review I got a lot faster as my knowledge base increased so I didn't have to write everything down. I would read every single word of the uworld explaination meticulously and anything that I was unsure about/liked the way Uworld explained it I would annotate in FA or pathoma (I know a lot of people that wouldn't go over correct questions or would superficially go over the answers. My biggest advice is to meticulously go over everything even right choices you were sure of b/c the explainations often have other information that is really good. This is why getting UWorld early is a good idea IMO b/c it gives you time to do this). I finished UWORLD with about 2 weeks left and then redid another 400 questions. But after I finished UWorld my FA was annotated with all of the hard concepts of uworld so I really didn't need to redo the questions. I also did pathoma during the year multiple times and then again multiple times during dedicated review. I pretty much knew the whole book cold and this was really the best resource for the exam. If you know this book like the back of your hand you will get a lot of questions right b/c of it (start the book at the beginning of MS-2).

I also had a lot of imaging/anatomy on my exam which I did spend quite a bit of time studying so I would recommend doing that as well. Pharm was a joke and everything in FA. I must say though that if you want a high score focus more on the other sources and just use FA as a skeleton. I really only ready FA cover to cover one time and skipped the path parts in it b/c I used pathoma for that. FA was good for all the drugs/biochem/micro/embryo. Other that that I used it mainly for the Uworld explaination I annotated to clarify things.

Also DIT sucks. If you want a high score not get it waste your money (it might be good if you want an average score). I started it for half a day and stopped after all they do is read word for word w/o expanding on anything.

Any other questions feel free to ask.

 

[GoBeers]

School CBSE: 230 (7 weeks out)
NBME 11: 254 (3 weeks out)
NBME 7: 240 (2 weeks out)
NBME 12: 245 (1 week out)
Uworld: 76%

Actual: 252

Blazed through First Aid 4x. Memorize this book and you're golden.
Went through RR Path and CMMRS 1x between end of school and start of dedicated study period.
Read BRS Phys 2x. (once during my second and then fourth pass of first aid)
I put in 14 hours a day for the first 5 weeks, then I burned out and only put in 8 hour days for the last 2 weeks. I stopped studying the past 2.5 days before exam.

No point in giving details about the exam since every test is largely different. But the test was mostly endo and repro. Little micro, pharm, biochem but they were all easy. only had one neuroanatomy gross specimen, one chest CT. i was lucky!!
don't remember much else. I had 10 minutes left on each section.

During and after the exam, I felt it was no more difficult than the NBMEs. I immediately counted 15-20 wrong after the exam and hoped for the best.

Most important advice is focus on your schoolwork because it will make boards studying that much easier.

 

[paintballguy]

Very happy with my scores since I walked out the the exam feeling like a fool.
USMLE= 247
I'm a DO, so I'm not sure if this score will really change any of my plans, but it's nice to have options.
UWORLD 1X average=69%
kaplan with 40% questions done= ~65%
No NBME tests to speak of. Read first aid three times, Read goljan once a month out from the test. Obviously I've read through these review books periodically throughout my first 2 yrs. I really feel that my PBL method of learning from LECOM was a great advantage and from what I've seen so far, many of my fellow PBLers have done very well.

 

[gte770m]

First time posting since coming to med school, I think. Only been replying to PMs... At any rate, here is what I got:

actual test: 251
Kaplan QBank: 60~65% (can't really remember exactly, but around there. Started doing ~20 to 30 q's every weekday morning starting late Jan/early Feb.)
UWorld QBank: 70% (again, best guess. Had ~400q's unfinished before step1. Started early May after our school's finals and Kaplan QBank)
Didn't try any other qbank or simulated exams.

As far as other study materials, I read through pathoma book once without watching the lectures, tried DIT, but gave up after 20% of the lectures, only read through embryology section of FA. For me qbank explanations, wikipedia, Harrison's and other textbooks available online through our school's library were the materials that I could study without falling asleep. Had about 3 weeks to study for step1 after our finals, but I think our in-class exams and finals were hard enough that by the time we were done with path and pharm finals, we were pretty ready, and didn't need a lot of time after that.

I am not one of those people who can sit there and study for hours and hours with not many breaks. I spent a lot of time with family, stayed relatively stress-free, and limited studying to ~5hrs/day, and I think that made my studying more efficient. I have hard time reading FA type books with bullet points that doesn't give a lot of explanations. So, personally, qbanks were the best prep tools.

One thing I would like to point out: Don't neglect behavioral science. I was pretty good on everything else, but not so hot on bs... I knew I was pretty weak there, but didn't think there would be many questions regarding bs, and that ones on the actual test wouldn't be that difficult. It turned out that I was pretty confused on a few bs questions on step1...

 

[Phloston]

School Diagnostic 225 (2 months out) - gotta admit I hadn't prepped for this at all
USMELRx-90%
USMLE World -81%
Kaplan - 83%
NBME11 - 254 (1 month out)
NBME 12 - 261 (2 weeks out)
STEP 1 - 267/90 😀

Based on many people's posts I've seen over the past few months, and perhaps even with greater specificity than the NBMEs, it seems like getting low-80s on the first pass of UWorld is a strong indicator of scores 260+. I'm glad you posted your percentages. Those are helpful.

How do you feel Kaplan QBank contributed to your overall performance?

Would you have done anything differently with regard to your approach to having done practice questions?

The one thing I wish I had known was that you can get basically the exact same question multiple times throughout the exam.

On two separate blocks I had the exact same figure with a slightly different prompt and it messed up my mind a little because it made me second guess my first answer and then think maybe I am missing something.

I'm glad you've mentioned that. Good to be aware.

 

[deano5709]

Real deal - 236/84
Was shooting for 240, but I'm pretty happy with this. I'm definitely on the low end of the SDN spectrum, but there has to be some normal people in the world right? Lol

I took the exam yesterday and I thought I would share my study plan and experience here since I’ve gotten so much help from SDN the past couple of years.

FA
BRS Phys
Uworld – 67%, random, timed
USMLE Rx – mostly at the beginning during shelf exams to solidify FA and pick up details
School CBSE (5 weeks out) – 230
NBME 12 (3 weeks out) – 233
NBME 13 (3 days out) – 245

I took about 7 weeks including when we had shelf exam finals for the last two weeks of school. I used only FA + BRS Phys for 99% of my prep, which I am so glad of in retrospect. I went over everything by subject first, then again by organ system to see things from a different perspective. It also helped me to type things up in my own words and make my own study guides based on FA, even though it was already right in front of me in FA because I tend to learn more when I have to type the words myself and I am forced to think about them a little more. One random thing I did that I think helped a lot was to keep a running document of things I really wanted to hammer in from Uworld (maybe 10-15 one-liner items per block) and I would go back and study this document every few days until I had seen everything I thought was very important, high yield, or just couldn’t remember about a dozen times.

I took two NBMEs, NBME 12 after finishing going over everything the first time by subject and then NBME 13 three days before the test. I thought they were slightly easier than the real thing on average, but much closer to the actual difficulty level than I would have thought based on some of the posts on here. Uworld was also harder than the real thing on average, but I think the medium to hard questions on the real thing were very comparable to Uworld. I think Uworld is the most key thing anyone can do, right up there with FA, because of the way it familiarizes you with the format and style of the test. If someone had told me at the end of my test that I had mistakenly just done 7 blocks of Uworld I would have believed them except for the of the easier 1 step questions you don’t often see in Uworld. I would say that the real test seemed exactly like someone mixed Uworld questions and NBME questions together.

As far as the exam experience itself, it was tougher to do 7 blocks, but if you take breaks when you need to and remember that when you do those blocks, you’ll be done it goes by pretty fast. I did 3 blocks to start, break, 2 blocks, break, then finished up the last 2 blocks. The test was pretty homogenous in that I marked about the same amount of questions per block, didn’t feel like I got crazy experimental questions in another language, and didn’t seem to have a “theme” or a bunch of questions from one subject. There were subjects/organ systems that were covered more than others, but you have to expect some variation. I feel like the test would do a pretty good job of showing what I did know and what I didn’t. I’m shooting for a 240, but I think I will be happy with a 230, guess I’ll find out on July 11th! As for now, I’m going enjoy my time off before rotations start that same day!

 

[mpatel621]

So I'm just one of those kids who likes to do as little as possible, as efficiently as possible, and hope for the best. So I got my score back today, and I'm very happy with the results based on what I did. Just thought I'd share.

Score: 253/88

Materials:
BRS Physio x1 (skimmed it all in 1 day - didn't do any of the questions)
First Aid x4
Pathoma x2
UWorld one pass (72%)
Kaplan (did like 400 questions - 55%)
UWSA 2 - 236
NBME 11 - 230
NBME 12 - 246
NBME 13 - 250

So yes there is hope if you dont wanna try as hard. Best of luck!

 

[Pharmacol90]

Hi Pholston,

Kaplan Qbank was more difficult and complicated than the actual exam. 90% of the questions on the actual exam are fairly easy to get. The other 10% of questions are the type that separate people into the 240/50/60 range. People say kaplan is not representative of the test, and they are right - but it is representative of the 10% of questions that really matter. Plus some of them have attached media, which is always nice.

What I did was put every question I got wrong (or guessed right) into an excel spreadsheet split up by organ systems. Then in the last 2 weeks of studying, I did nothing but exhaust all 3 q-banks and reviewed my excel spreadsheet of mistakes.

 

[glycolysisman]

Happy for all of you that did so well!

Only a 201 here, I'm sorry to say.

FA x 2-3
DIT
Pathoma x 1
USMLE x 0.75
CMMRS
BRS Physio

Only 3 weeks of dedicated study (I hate my school).

Had a near-perfect SAT and mid-30's MCAT but I didn't prepare enough for this one nor get enough sleep leading up to it. Breakups really suck, and does nothing good for depression. I don't think I'll be continuing on this path if peds/FM/psych are my only options. I'm not sure if I can stand any more uphill battles beyond just getting through each day.

Can't hang with you all-Hope you all go on to awesome things, though! Gibe free healthcare plox? Huehuahuehue

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

glycolysisman its understandable that you may be upset with your score but think long and hard if you decide to leave. whatever your choice, i wish you the best man. sometimes life gets in the way of stuff we wish to do

 

[futuredoc8788]

Took It today! Wasn't that bad! 90% of my test came from FA and UWOLRD! Now that doesn't mean I remembered all of it though lol. There were definitely a lot of gimmies. Not only did they give you a picture, they'd also tell you the symptoms too! I couldn't believe it! There were definitely some things I'd never seen but that was only a few and you really can't control for that. Not going to go into detail with questions b/c everyone's exam is different. Quick little breakdown:

ANATOMY: a lot! but mostly all could be answered from FA and world
BIOCHEM/GENETICS: most could be answered from FA, a few were tricky
MICRO: mostly from FA. def a few random bugs though
PHYS: lots of arrow questions, but not too difficult, not too much of it either. (Hallelujah!)
PATH: my test was very path heavy(and again Hallelujah!), like some have recommended definitely read the first 3 sections right before if you can.
PHARM: very straightforward. classic s/e and MOA. only 1 drug I had no clue on. and trust me, I suck at pharm. hate memorizing, more of an understand kinda gal.
BIOSTATS: simple. all could be answered from FA.
BEHAVIORAL: some were easy. some were tricky. but whatevs

my test was incredibly heavy on renal path and anatomy. nothing else at the moment really sticks out too much. I had plenty of time to go over blocks again in most of my sections( I skip things when I don't know it) and marked at most 10 questions per block and that was only a few times and some of the questions I marked were simply b/c I had trouble remembering, not b/c they were hard. They did have a lot of graphs you had to interpret so practice those. As far as my exam. If you knew FA and you world in and out and really UNDERSTOOD and made connections you would be just finel. Quick advice: look at images, so many of the questions you don't even have to read to know the answer, if FA tells you "globoid cell", go look it up. Same for all the other tidbits in FA if there's a fact you don't understand, again LOOK IT UP!

oh, and as far as comparison from easiest to hardest NBME 7 < STEP <UWSA1< UWORLD <<< NBME 12 ( hated this one). P.S. I definitely had an NBME question on my test. so check your answers when you take them. I know thats the only reason I got one of the questions right b/c the answer to that question is not in FA or UWorld. Also, UWORLD is amazing some of the question weren't exactly the same, but they were similar. Last tidbit of advice...pray. I honestly believe I wasn't that nervous about it b/c I prayed( well I pray all the time lol, but pray about your test). Instead of trying to calm my nerves (like I was for the MCAT) I was able to focus instead. Not going to predict how well I did but I'm sure I passed lol.

Hope this helps ease some ppls anxiety.

Good luck to everyone studying. Its rough, I know.

Any questions, let me know.

update: 250+ Stoked! Practice test scores: NBME7: 245, UWSA1: 248, NBME 12: 235. Its doable guys! Btw, my MCAT was <30, so the two definitely do not correlate. Don't let ppl scare you, be confident in your reasoning and your answers! If you don't know something, SKIP it and comeback later, no need in waisting time. Also, DO NOT scare yourself by checking answers during/after the test. It will only drive you nuts. The test is already submitted, can't do anything about it after. Anywho, congrats to everyone who's done with the beast. Good luck to those studying.

 

[CSnowFoxD]

Just wanted to post this because I was going crazy searching for good score estimators the month I was studying and read a lot about UWSA scores vs. real scores. Our school only gives us 4 weeks to study, so I only had time to do UWSA1 and that free nbme: UWSA1 was 252 and real deal 251, so it is close. Also, the free nbme predicted a 247, so that's a good predictor too, for me at least. I went through maybe 75% of FA when I did the free nbme, if that helps.

I'm don't regret not doing any of the paid NBMEs (hella broke, not paying 50$ for no explanations...but also mostly didn't have time), but I do seriously regret not being able to go through UW (went through like 55% of it...).

I don't know how to feel about my score...seems like it's good, but not good enough for competitive residencies in Cali, and Cali is all that I can think about! Sigh!

 

[Phloston]

Hi Pholston,

Kaplan Qbank was more difficult and complicated than the actual exam. 90% of the questions on the actual exam are fairly easy to get. The other 10% of questions are the type that separate people into the 240/50/60 range. People say kaplan is not representative of the test, and they are right - but it is representative of the 10% of questions that really matter. Plus some of them have attached media, which is always nice.

That's very helpful.

What I did was put every question I got wrong (or guessed right) into an excel spreadsheet split up by organ systems. Then in the last 2 weeks of studying, I did nothing but exhaust all 3 q-banks and reviewed my excel spreadsheet of mistakes.

Interesting tactic - very "new-school."

How much did you focus on pure memorization of your annotated FA during the final two weeks? And if you had not overly-coveted FA during this time, is that because you were merely more focused on making sure you could "exhaust," or finish, the QBanks?

--> I'm trying to garner a perspective on questions vs FA in the final weeks.

 

[tjquinn]

Wow, it looks like you did everything - almost all NBMEs and all qbanks. You had 10-15 minutes left for each block?! That's great and congrats.

I treated each block like the uworld blocks. They give you a full hour on the real test for each block, and I usually had time left over when doing the uworld blocks so it felt very similar.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Just wanted to post this because I was going crazy searching for good score estimators the month I was studying and read a lot about UWSA scores vs. real scores. Our school only gives us 4 weeks to study, so I only had time to do UWSA1 and that free nbme: UWSA1 was 252 and real deal 251, so it is close. Also, the free nbme predicted a 247, so that's a good predictor too, for me at least. I went through maybe 75% of FA when I did the free nbme, if that helps.

I'm don't regret not doing any of the paid NBMEs (hella broke, not paying 50$ for no explanations...but also mostly didn't have time), but I do seriously regret not being able to go through UW (went through like 55% of it...).

I don't know how to feel about my score...seems like it's good, but not good enough for competitive residencies in Cali, and Cali is all that I can think about! Sigh!

I agree with Cali sentiment! But it is still a spectacular score. As much as i love cali and everything about it, it'd be more than okay being somewhere else.

Amazing score nonetheless!

 

[tjquinn]

Phloston,

yeah, it is a mindf*** that was quite annoying. It actually happened three times during my test

 

[glycolysisman]

glycolysisman its understandable that you may be upset with your score but think long and hard if you decide to leave. whatever your choice, i wish you the best man. sometimes life gets in the way of stuff we wish to do

Thank you for the kind words! It kinda sucks seeing all these ludicrous scores and realizing just how low my ceiling is-I basically have no self-esteem left, which will probably make getting through rotations pretty difficult. Not sure what my next step is, but it'll probably end at or after 2.

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

Thank you for the kind words! It kinda sucks seeing all these ludicrous scores and realizing just how low my ceiling is-I basically have no self-esteem left, which will probably make getting through rotations pretty difficult. Not sure what my next step is, but it'll probably end at or after 2.

Just try and do the best you can from here on out. Step 1 is just 1 of many tests that we take. PDs understand this. One of the EM attending that I shadowed in my premed days failed his step 1 -2 times before he was accepted. Do well in Medicine and your EM rotation. As you may know.... the people who post scores on sdn post only if they did well so its a really skewed type of representation.

EM is just one of many examples.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Just try and do the best you can from here on out. Step 1 is just 1 of many tests that we take. PDs understand this. One of the EM attending that I shadowed in my premed days failed his step 1 -2 times before he was accepted. Do well in Medicine and your EM rotation. As you may know.... the people who post scores on sdn post only if they did well so its a really skewed type of representation.

EM is just one of many examples.

Yea, i agree. I haven't taken mine yet so i can't speak too much on that. But there is always a way. One test does not mean THE END!. Just keep your head up even though right now it probably feels impossible to do so. It will take time to get over that negative feelings. Just try not to think about it too much.

 

[ijn]

269/91

Ain't a score that phloston would be proud of... but it should get me where I want to go. 😉

 

[GTP]

Just try and do the best you can from here on out. Step 1 is just 1 of many tests that we take. PDs understand this. One of the EM attending that I shadowed in my premed days failed his step 1 -2 times before he was accepted. Do well in Medicine and your EM rotation. As you may know.... the people who post scores on sdn post only if they did well so its a really skewed type of representation.

EM is just one of many examples.

Did u get your scores back yet helppleasemd?

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

nope took it on the 28th. so 1 or 2 more weeks of agonizing wait. that and the torture of following the resident around clueless in IM

 

[MrBeauregard]

269/91

Ain't a score that phloston would be proud of... but it should get me where I want to go. 😉

I mean it is a little on the low side. Solid effort, though. 😉

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

269/91

Ain't a score that phloston would be proud of... but it should get me where I want to go. 😉

great score. thx ijn for all your help during the past 2 months. never thought i would have studied this much for 1 test.

 

[ipizzy]

CONGRATS man. When did you finish banking gt? When do you suggest others should reach 100% banked? Ie how long before writing the exam? Thanks

Thanks! I banked almost 100% before starting qbanks; so I would recommend aiming for finishing banking (or getting close to it, e.g. 85%+) by the time you want to start your qbanking. It's too difficult to bank and qbank at the same time... Plus you'll get more out of your qbanks if you start with a solid baseline knowledge level, IMO.

ipizzy did it feel like you had questions wrong when you left the test?

Yes, I looked up a few questions afterwards and know I got some wrong. I couldn't remember many questions but of the 4 I looked up, I got 3 wrong. I thought it was a bad sign haha I never would have guessed my score would turn out this way.

 

[Justforkicks4]

UWSA1: 252
UWSA2: 257

REAL DEAL: 253

Not too much to add that others haven't already said. For most, UWorld assessments seem to overinflate, but that wasn't the case for me I guess. That said, I would still recommend taking an NBME self-assessment. My Step 1 seemed different from UWorld...not necessarily more difficult, just different and I wonder if taking an NBME would have been a nice idea.

Resources:
Pathoma> goljan RR
UWorld x2
Kaplan 60% completed (did during 1st semester M2)
Goljan audio x5 (listened at gym during school year)
FA: went through several times throughout M2 and study month

** For those of us who aren't blessed with incredible smarts, just know that you can do well on Step 1. I feel like hard work pays off more for this exam than for others like the MCAT (I got a 31 on MCAT and studied hard for it). Good luck to everyone still studying!

 

[HelpPleaseMD]

FYI. I just signed up for the kaplan step 2 ck course. Called them and got a 4k discount. lol went from 5k to 1.2k for 12 month access of q bank and 140 hrs of video. hoping its good.

 

[GTP]

Thanks! I banked almost 100% before starting qbanks; so I would recommend aiming for finishing banking (or getting close to it, e.g. 85%+) by the time you want to start your qbanking. It's too difficult to bank and qbank at the same time... Plus you'll get more out of your qbanks if you start with a solid baseline knowledge level, IMO.



Yes, I looked up a few questions afterwards and know I got some wrong. I couldn't remember many questions but of the 4 I looked up, I got 3 wrong. I thought it was a bad sign haha I never would have guessed my score would turn out this way.

Cool cool

So during which month did you start Qbanks? Just trying to get an idea. January vs may is a big difference.

 

[operaman]

Thank you for the kind words! It kinda sucks seeing all these ludicrous scores and realizing just how low my ceiling is-I basically have no self-esteem left, which will probably make getting through rotations pretty difficult. Not sure what my next step is, but it'll probably end at or after 2.

Just wanted to add that, while important, this one test does not completely define your future. It just means you have to work harder and make your application stand out in other ways if you want to land a competitive residency. Anecdotally, I know a person who just matched into a very competitive field with a very similar step 1 score. She took a year off for research in the field and churned out some good pubs, did much better on step 2, did well 3rd and 4th year and got awesome letters, etc.

So you have a weak point on your app -- just do everything you can to make sure it's the only one.

 

[link2swim06]

Happy for all of you that did so well!

Only a 201 here, I'm sorry to say.

FA x 2-3
DIT
Pathoma x 1
USMLE x 0.75
CMMRS
BRS Physio

Only 3 weeks of dedicated study (I hate my school).

Had a near-perfect SAT and mid-30's MCAT but I didn't prepare enough for this one nor get enough sleep leading up to it. Breakups really suck, and does nothing good for depression. I don't think I'll be continuing on this path if peds/FM/psych are my only options. I'm not sure if I can stand any more uphill battles beyond just getting through each day.

Can't hang with you all-Hope you all go on to awesome things, though! Gibe free healthcare plox? Huehuahuehue

Bro you aren't locked into those by any means. Look at the match data for 2012...apart from the super competitive specialties you can still match in about anything.

I got a score very close to yours...according to match data 80% of people applying to EM with my score (and your) matched. EM is a good example of a middle tier specialty in terms of competitiveness. I think you would be surprised, your odds are still fine (assuming you are an AMG).

Unless you only wanted derm or ortho...I don't think you have "locked" yourself out of many specialties.

We both just need to take step 2 earlier and do well. A 201 is still within 1 SD, its just not epic, which seems to be a requirement to post on SDN. Check this out...there are still a bunch of people matching in almost everything with a 201.

http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2011.pdf

 

[RedSoxSuck]

269/91

Ain't a score that phloston would be proud of... but it should get me where I want to go. 😉

Too smart😀

 

[ipizzy]

Cool cool

So during which month did you start Qbanks? Just trying to get an idea. January vs may is a big difference.

Started dabbling in Kaplan in late January; saved UWorld for April-June. I did the qbanks consecutively rather than concurrently

 

[xenophila]

I felt god awful after my test. Went home and managed to recall 250ish of my questions. Found 31 that I missed for sure and another 60 that I didn't know if I got right or not. Caused me to freak out for the past 6 weeks.

I ONLY used First Aid. Didn't open another book the entire study period. I also used DIT. Some people give DIT a bad rap, but I can think of at least 10 questions that I got right because it was in DIT and not in First Aid.
World: overall 64%.. (most tests were in the low 70s toward the end)
Kaplan: overall 62%

NBME 9: 217.. 6 weeks out
NBME 11: 226.. 3 weeks out
UWSA 1: 248.. 2 weeks out
UWSA 2: 244 1 week out
NBME 12: 238 2 days out

Real deal: 242/85

I'm ecstatic with this score. The UWSA are definitely inflated by about 10 points.

What I've learned from this:
1. You can can miss a boat load of questions and still manage to do fine on the test.
2. NEVER look up answers after the test.. It caused me 6 weeks of stressful nightmares.

How were your UWSA inflated by 10 points? they seem pretty dead on, more than your NBMEs.

 

[YA7ES]

How were your UWSA inflated by 10 points? they seem pretty dead on, more than your NBMEs.

Mainly because I felt like if I had taken the real deal one or two weeks prior to when I actually did then I would have made about 10 points lower than what the UWSA predicted.

 

[usmleq]

.

 

[usmleq]

Mainly because I felt like if I had taken the real deal one or two weeks prior to when I actually did then I would have made about 10 points lower than what the UWSA predicted.

I think USMLEworld has already accounted for this in their estimates. I don't think they tell you the score you would have gotten if you took the real test that day I think it is based on the what score people actually end up getting on the exam (for most it is taken 1-4 weeks later)

 

[mtwop]

Just another addition but my exam>uworld>NBMEs. Almost all honors in basic sciences. My advice to future test takers is to use board review material with coursework throughout 2nd year (NOT NOT NOT 1st year). Studying board stuff during early 1st year cost me honors in a few courses (wasn't focusing on lecture material as much). Scored in 260s and 250s on the 3 practice tests I took. I came out feeling way worse than any NBME (7,12,13), but I'll find out Wednesday how it really went. I honestly feel like I could get anywhere from 200-260.

I left the test feeling like I had done a ton of guessing, felt like every other question. 2 very easy blocks, 3 very difficult blocks, and 2 mediium blocks (like the NBMEs). I marked over 15 on the first difficult block, but then stopped marking questions because I realized I wouldn't have any time anyway. I only finished 2 blocks with more than 3 minutes to spare and was rushed on all others (I never finished an NBME exam with less than 15 minutes left). Don't want to scare everyone, just wanted to let you know what to expect. Finished kaplan qbank with 72% percent overall (high yield mode only) as well as half of uworld with 74% overall. Obviously I would have done all of uworld if I could do it again, but thought kaplan wasn't nearly as bad as many people say. Not as good as world, but I wasn't all that impressed with world either.

Did DIT, pathoma, goljan audio (still very good for learning during the year), and FA mainly. Also read through most of HY neuro, usmle roadmap anatomy, and referenced some other books. Didn't mean for this to be a big review. Will update Wednesday with results to see if my advice is actually worth reading. So glad this crap is over with

Real Deal: 240s A bit disappointing, but relieved considering how hard of an exam it was. Still very happy this didn't close any doors. Good luck all

 

[nopo18]

Started dabbling in Kaplan in late January; saved UWorld for April-June. I did the qbanks consecutively rather than concurrently

First, congrats. Seriously amazing score!

Second, how did you qbank? Random or subject? Timed or tutor mode? Any suggestions? Same settings for kaplan And UW? Thanks alot!

 

[rpatel6]

On NBME 7, 11, 12, & 13 I scored 254, 252, 254, & 259, respectively, so my actual score was between 7 and 14 points below my practice scores. The most disappointing part is that I took NBME 13 three days before my actual exam, so I thought I was peaking at the end...maybe I peaked and then immediately crashed? Haha, I don't ****ing know...whatever, I'm absolutely not disappointed in my score of 245, just thought my practice scores were pointing towards something a little higher. I felt decently well coming out of the exam too, so I thought the 259 was in reach. Oh well, there's no difference above 245, right???

You know damn well that your score is a decent score. Stop complaining and move on with life. Fishing for compliments is a very bad quality to have.....

 

[ijn]

I found SDN to be very helpful during my study time, so I guess I should contribute a little bit more than one line.

UWSA #1: 240 (1/17/2012)
NBME #7: 266 (2/10/2012)
NBME #12: 261 (2/19/2012)
NBME #13: 259 (3/08/2012)
CBSE #1: 260+ (99) (3/09/2012)
USWA #2 265+ (3/18/2012)
CBSE #2: 260+ (99) (5/11/2012)
CBSE #3: 260+ (99) (6/06/2012)

Real thing: 269 (6/13/2012)

How I studied:
I did every single NBME I could get my hands on. There are 10 altogether for a total of 2000 questions. Then there are the ~140 questions that you can download from the USMLE's website. These questions can and DO repeat on your actual STEP1. Also questions from your schools CBSEs and subject NBME exams (pathology, pharm, physio, etc.) will also repeat word for word on your STEP 1 exam. If there's something you're not 100% sure about on those exams, make sure to go look it up. Because that saved my ass on a few I would have otherwise not known.

I started USMLEWorld mid way throughout the first semester of second year. I basically tried to use it as a study tool for the subject NBMEs that we took at the end of each block. I reset USMLEWorld right before my dedicated study time.

I did about 60% of Kaplan QBank. I have very mixed feelings about this question bank. I think it's worth the money if you have the dedication to go through the low yield **** they throw at you, but I personally didn't have the patience to go through it all.

I did all of USMLERx once, basically alongside my second year pathology and pharmacology courses. I think it's a great bank for reinforcing First Aid, but you have to parse through a lot of low yield bull**** at times.

My general strategy was to convert First Aid into digital flash cards. In the end I had a huge excel file that basically had every fact in First Aid converted into a question of some sort. It was a pretty time consuming process. I'd make them organ system by organ system throughout all of second year so it wasn't as burdensome.

I watched a good chunk of the Kaplan videos once and Pathoma twice during my dedicated board time (5.5 weeks). I was listening Goljan audios my car and my ipod when I went jogging throughout the year, but I never took notes from it or used it seriously as a primary study source. I didn't use Rapid Review Pathology or any other review book. I tried to read BRS Behavioral Sciences but gave up after 2 or 3 chapters. I hate textbooks. I need someone to be force feeding me the material to really learn.

In retrospect I should have taken the exam a lot earlier than I did. I got extremely burnt out in the last two weeks and basically spent a good chunk of my days playing Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 3. A third year told me half way through second year that you shouldn't take STEP 1 after you peak. I didn't believe him at the time, but boy was he right.

My last recommendation is to maybe check out some of the pathology that is in First Aid for STEP 2 CK pedatrics section. It's not the highest yield thing to do, but for damn sure I had questions that were covered by that book that aren't in First Aid for STEP 1. I think as they try to make STEP 1 more and more clinical, they're going to be drawing more and more on STEP 2 vignettes to stump the MS2s with **** they've never seen before.

Good luck to all you future test takers.

 

[Aclamity]

262/89

I'm unbelievably happy since I'm aiming for a competitive field.

FA 3x
UW 1x (quite honestly I think 2x is a worthless waste of time, but each to his/her own)
Goljan RR 3x (during school; I still strongly believe this was NOT a waste of time)
Kaplan biochem

 

[Themmk]

Got my score today - 244/86

4.5 weeks dedicated time. The only thing I did before that was review FA biochem. Didn't use any review books.
UW 1st pass- 64% over all, timed random blocks of 46. Started out in the 50% and ended around 68-78%
Kaplan diagnostics - 198 before studying
NBME7 4 wks out - 202
UWSA1 3 wks out - 226
UWSA2 1 wk out - 241

FA 2.5x, UW 1x + Google & Wikipedia.
I feel 😍

 

[tothefullest]

My statistics:

UWorld Self-Assessment 1 (6 weeks away): 252
NBME 7 (5 weeks away): 245
School’s CBSSA (4 weeks out): 259
NBME 13 (3 weeks away): 271
UWorld Custom* (2 weeks away): 260
UWorld Self-Assessment 2 (1 week away): 262

Actual USMLE Step 1: 257

I wrote up my attack plan but since it's lengthy, I just decided to put it up on a separate website: http://usmleexecution.blogspot.com/

Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

 

[PeterParker7]

I don't consider myself to be particularly gifted at cramming. Knowing that, I started studying for step 1 summer before M2. A ton of people will tell you this is crazy (denial, 1st stage of grieving), but I think you are crazy not to work as hard as you can for one of the most important exams for your career. The sooner you can accept that fact that Step 1 is important and that it is going to be one of the hardest exams you'll ever take, the better equipped you will be mentally/emotionally to have the endurance to study all year.

Summer before: Gunnertraining, banked all of M1 material
All M2 classes, did Gunnertraining and UW (with annotations into FA) with class. I read through my entire class syllabus in the first week or two of a 4 week block (without attending class) then I would focus solely on boards until 2 days before my class exams (not shelf exams though). Those last 2 days I crammed as hard as I could for class specific material using homemade flash cards.

I finished GT and UW (71% first pass) around March of my classes (test date end of May). I then began on redoing UW during my last month and a half of classes.

During ISP, I redid UW (don't know my % because I didn't reset, and I did any wrong answers multiple times over to memorize), kept up on my GT daily review, did a little over half of Kaplan Qbank (1200q's or so, about 78%), and read first aid cover to cover x2 (focusing on mainly details that I never mastered from GT). I took 3 NBMEs during ISP at the beginning, 2 weeks in, and 1 week before step 1. I then took both UW self assessments as practice blocks throughout the last two weeks of ISP (256, 262). I also took the free 150 questions on the NBME website in my last week to get used to the actual layout of the real test (score translator said that my percent correct ~264).

I made it a priority during ISP to stay very well rested by sleeping 8+ hours a night to compensate from lack of sleep during the school year. My school is P/F so I didn't attend class, read my syllabus for school, then solely did boards studying, and I tended to still get class average or higher on every class exam based on how much overlap of material there was on step 1/class and how well I could cram class specific topics 2 days before my class exams.

My biggest tip for the last week or so before step 1. SLEEP! Stay really well rested, if you work hard all year, the last week up to the exam is all about being prepped to bring your A game on test day. There are a lot of questions are tricky or experimental and you may not know. Its ok, it will all work out.

I walked out of my test feeling pretty good. My 2nd block I struggled to finish because I drained 5 minutes on a stats question that I knew I could get the right answer to after scribbling through all the math, which left me with very little time the last couple questions. In a huff, I went right into block 3, and probably wasn't in the best state of mind to tackle it. However, I took a 10 minute break after that, ate some food, drank some energy drink, and flew through blocks 4-7 feeling very strong (10 minute breaks between blocks for snack/energy drink).

NBME 4 weeks before, 242
Read FA cover to cover during these next two weeks...
NBME 2 weeks before, 254
Read FA cover to cover again during these next two weeks focusing on weaknesses...
NBME 1 week before, 266
UWSA #1 as random practice blocks in ISP, 256
UWSA #2 as random practice blocks in ISP, 262
Free 150, estimated calculator online said 264 as the conversion (it was >90%, don't remember what exactly, but I took it as separate practice blocks the week before step 1)

Step 1 score: 265/90

Obviously super I'm super happy! I'd highly recommend starting early to prep for step 1. I don't think my school really emphasized the importance of the exam, and many of our upperclassmen told us not to even think about step 1 until January (5 mos before the actual test date). I completely disagree. Even residents I am rotating with now say that Step 1 follows you even into fellowship applications. I think if you want to really shine, and you stick with a hardcore plan where you practice day in and day out all year, I think you can max out your potential and perform very well. It was a VERY hard year, but I don't think anyone looks back on the year and regrets how much effort they put in for such an important exam (not to mention how well it preps your base knowledge for M3). So start early, stay confident, and know that most of the info on the test will help make you a useful part of the team for M3!

Good luck to all future test takers!