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. 👍

 

[neuro raqs]

Hey all! I've been lurking on this board a lot while studying, and I found some of the posters very helpful and reassuring. So I wanted to share, and hopefully do the same for someone else.

As background, I've never been a a spectacular standardized test taker, but I usually do decently. I'm interested in a competitive specialty so I was really hoping to do well on step 1.

I started studying 5 months before, during classes with a small study group, and annotated first aid with them. Then, I had a dedicated study time of 8 weeks, used First Aid 2010 (I'd already started annotating it and didn't want to get 2012), UWorld Q bank, Goljan audio lectures/notes. I also used a few review books HY neuro, BRS path and physiology were the most useful. I used rapid review biochemistry (but I think I spent too much time). I realized by the end of week 3, that the best thing to do was to annotate Uworld into First Aid. So I added to my previous annotations during my dedicated study period as I did UWorld.

For me I usually need to do lots of practice questions. So 4-5 weeks in, my UWorld percentage started to improve (from 59% to high 60s%). When I took my first NBME (11), I got 221, 4 weeks from the exam date. A week later I took NBME 12 and got 226. I was really disappointed at that point. I think NBME questions, like the actual test are more straightforward, but asked in a more vague way. I was very used to UWorld questions, but I needed to practice with the NBME style questions. In the last 2 weeks before my exam I did every NBME available. My scores began to climb. I also spent those last 2 weeks reviewing my weak points in First Aid and the UWorld questions I'd gotten wrong.

The exam itself did not seem too difficult, I felt like I had only 1-2 wtf questions. I didn't have too much trouble with time, but with questions that I wasn't sure about, I had to really just trust myself with guessing (another thing I had to work on with practice questions).

To summarize scores:
UWSA #1 214
UWSA#2 234
NBME 11 (4weeks out) 221
NBME 12 (3 wks) 226
NBME 5 (2 wks) 231
NBME 13 (7 days) 238
NBME 3 240
NBME 7 (4 days) 242
Actual test: 251

I exceeded my goal and what I thought I was capable of. I wasn't scoring anywhere near my goal until maybe the last week.

My general advice: If you're not happy with your NBMEs or other score indicators, think critically about what is going wrong, whether it is a knowledge issue or a test-taking issue. Don't assume that you can't reach your goal and don't give up. Also anxiety can really psyche you out. I talked to someone in the specialty I'm interested in about what score range I really needed (there is often a discrepancy about what people outside the specialty think you need and what you need in reality). This actually helped relieve a lot of the pressure that I'd put on myself. It was also after this that I started doing much better. I can't stress the importance of keeping it simple with study materials, I primarily stuck to FA and UWorld. I turned to BRS or Goljan for weak spots only. It's easy to get sucked into wasting time on low yield material. I think using other review books before the dedicated study time could be really helpful. A study group can be immensely helpful, especially for advice (some of my friends took the test earlier) and moral support.

Best of luck everyone!

 

[thecalccobra]

@neuro raqs- nice score! just wondering, what was your final UW average?

 

[neuro raqs]

Thanks! so like my overall at the end of the first pass was 71%. But on individual blocks of 40 random questions, I was getting 78-80% in the last week. This was in the second pass of UWorld doing questions that I got wrong.

 

[JasonE]

the boards are evil. some of the question writers look at first aid and derive questions that the book won't answer (ex. if first aid lists a drug but doesnt mention its mechanism of action, they ask a question about it)

 

[Belleza156]

the boards are evil. some of the question writers look at first aid and derive questions that the book won't answer (ex. if first aid lists a drug but doesnt mention its mechanism of action, they ask a question about it)

Very true, they did this for 2 parasitic infections Rx MOA. I dont think there are any MOA listed for any of those drugs in FA. I definitely got 2 questions on MOA of them.

 

[Phloston]

the boards are evil. some of the question writers look at first aid and derive questions that the book won't answer (ex. if first aid lists a drug but doesnt mention its mechanism of action, they ask a question about it)

That's very smart reasoning. It's a lesson that if you ever have an "external" question that you ask yourself while reading FA, make sure you Wiki it, etc., to have it answered.

Very true, they did this for 2 parasitic infections Rx MOA. I dont think there are any MOA listed for any of those drugs in FA. I definitely got 2 questions on MOA of them.

In combination with what JasonE has said, this is very valuable information.

I can comment that the Lange pharmacology cards have one card that has a list of all the MOA of the parasitic drugs.

The highest yield:

The -bendazoles are microtubule inhibitors, which I've even seen show up in a Kaplan question.

The lower-yield stuff:

Ivermectin activates helminth GABA receptors; major side-effect is the Mazotti reaction (fever, rash, hypotension, vertigo, arrhythmia). It's like the Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction of helminth Tx.

Diethylcarbamazine inhibits arachidonic acid. (Di-ethyl ---> ethyl is hydrophobic? --> fats?)

Praziquantel increases Ca2+ uptake, leading to helminth spastic paralysis.

Pyrantel pamoate activates helminth nicotinic receptors, causing spastic paralysis.

Remember, the P's = sPastic paralysis; or for Praziquantel, Praz is spaz.

Another interesting one though is that pentamadine inhibits helminth RNA synthesis, and it's used as an alternative Tx for T. brucei. And not related to helminths, it's alternative Tx for PCP, which we already know.

 

[Bane]

the boards are evil. some of the question writers look at first aid and derive questions that the book won't answer (ex. if first aid lists a drug but doesnt mention its mechanism of action, they ask a question about it)

Do you actually think they look at first aid to come up with the questions?

 

[Phloston]

Bane, I know you're asking Jason the above question, but I'm sure those guys run out of ideas after a while and need some high-yield framework (i.e. FA) to build low-yield questions out of. I'm sure their reasoning is that they're aware that not everyone will spend the time to look up the side-details, so they want to separate people.

 

[Bane]

Bane, I know you're asking Jason the above question, but I'm sure those guys run out of ideas after a while and need some high-yield framework (i.e. FA) to build low-yield questions out of. I'm sure their reasoning is that they're aware that not everyone will spend the time to look up the side-details, so they want to separate people.

I guess it's possible. I just would find it weird for them to buy a book students use to then create a question that they couldn't answer, odd but possible.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

I guess it's possible. I just would find it weird for them to buy a book students use to then create a question that they couldn't answer, odd but possible.

I was told by my neuro professor ( writes for step 1) that writers use resources such as rapid review, first aid and high yield series to write questions. Because they want to know what the students are studying and how particular piece of information is being presented to them. So they (writers) can manipulate information to present it in a weird obscure way. Even though all of it can be found in fa one way or the other.

Btw, my neuro professor is very well known and he has served on various surgeries and neurology boards.

 

[JasonE]

i cant prove it, but it seems odd/fishy that they ask questions about specific facts missing from FA. they're prob just trying their best to stay ahead of the curve. its gotta be tough for them to keep coming up with new questions with the review sources becoming better and better.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

i cant prove it, but it seems odd/fishy that they ask questions about specific facts missing from FA. they're prob just trying their best to stay ahead of the curve. its gotta be tough for them to keep coming up with new questions with the review sources becoming better and better.

Let's hide pathoma from them.

 

[Belleza156]

Plus you have to remember sometimes the ones who write board questions, also write review books.

But for sure, I've heard it a few times that they do that. Even with Goljans book that has every path detail you could think of, you can go back and look thru Goljan to see if x question was answered in Goljan, and some obscure detail not mentioned in Goljan, which is one step beyond the 2-4 steps Goljan can provide w his info, that's the detail you needed to answer. If you can remember questions and you go thru ur step 1 study materials to see if you had the info to answer the question, you'll see the trend I delineated w the Goljan example many times over. Of course that's just for a few selective questions, 85% of step 1 questions can be answered w FA....if you know how to use FA.

Sent from my PC36100 using SDN Mobile

 

[exudate]

241/85 usmle on 7/30

Uworld questions 60%
Kaplan 58%
Nbme 11=217

pathoma, road map neuro, first aid

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! That's a great score!!! Can you tell me how many times did you go through FA and pathoma?? These are my two primary sources along with uworld.

 

[MrBeauregard]

It's like the Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction of helminth Tx

The Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction usually occurs after the administration of penicillin (or another antibiotic) in the treatment of spirochetal infections, and this is likely how you will see it tested on Step 1.

 

[zeyad]

The Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction usually occurs after the administration of penicillin (or another antibiotic) in the treatment of spirochetal infections, and this is likely how you will see it tested on Step 1.

I think he knows that. He's just saying its the equivalent of the JH reaction, but in treatment of parasitic infections.

 

[thehundredthone]

I think Katzung mentions the Mazzotti reaction by name only in the treatment of Onchocercus volvuli with ivermectin, even though the microfilaria are just as likely to cause a hypersenstivity reaction with DEC (albeit more severe). And my pharmacology department always maintained that the Mazzotti reaction was seen with DEC and microfilaria.

 

[MrBeauregard]

I think he knows that. He's just saying its the equivalent of the JH reaction, but in treatment of parasitic infections.

And you'd be right. It was my 5AM eyes!

 

[Boardz]

Real Deal: 244. There goes plastics.

 

[LuckiestOne]

Real Deal: 244. There goes plastics.

That's unfortunate but still great. You sounded like you knew your stuff higher than 244. How did NBMEs/UWSAs correlate with your real score?

 

[Phloston]

Real Deal: 244. There goes plastics.

According to the match statistics, 249 (n=74) was the mean for plastics, so it's not out of question. Just make sure you have strong research and you can be sure that you'll get your plastics.

The unmatched average was 238 at n=94.

Did anything bizarre/unexpected show up on your exam?

 

[Dallas]

So I just wanted to give yall an update on my score

I got a 241.

Nothing super by SDN's standards but for the specialty I want to go into this is more than enough so im very satisfied.
Thanks all, especially phloston and god bless.

Oh, and I would recommend FA , Uworld multiple passes and Pathoma

 

[dragon529]

@Dallas, Great score! When did you started doing UWorld and when did you make your "multiple passes"? Can you be a little bit more specific? Thanks!

 

[Dallas]

@Dallas, Great score! When did you started doing UWorld and when did you make your "multiple passes"? Can you be a little bit more specific? Thanks!

I started Uworld 6 weeks before my exam, I didnt do multiple passes I only managed to do uworld x1.5 but I felt that uworld multiple times is something I would have done if I could go back in time with hindsight and do it all over again.

The real exam feels identical to uworld 90% of the questions with 10% of weird esoteric questions that you may or may not get right depending on luck or if you just happen to know that tidbit. I attribute a couple of my asterisk on my score report to that.

(the asterisks mean that the width of your score in a particular subject is wider than what is depicted by the score report, I can only assume this is due to answering right on some random esoteric weird question making your range jump up.)

I basically did a modified TAUS method approach, but with hindsight I would include pathoma (i only did partial pathoma with the subjects i struggled with) and do uworld multiple times.
Stay away from kaplan except for pharmacology and raymond 🙂

 

[alternatego]

So I just wanted to give yall an update on my score

I got a 241.

Nothing super by SDN's standards but for the specialty I want to go into this is more than enough so im very satisfied.
Thanks all, especially phloston and god bless.

Oh, and I would recommend FA , Uworld multiple passes and Pathoma

Congrats man! The best part of it is that you're finally over this cursed exam. I'm taking mine on Friday and I can't wait for this to be over already.

 

[Boardz]

According to the match statistics, 249 (n=74) was the mean for plastics, so it's not out of question. Just make sure you have strong research and you can be sure that you'll get your plastics.

The unmatched average was 238 at n=94.

Did anything bizarre/unexpected show up on your exam?

nothing bizarre or unexpected. I'm not the best test-taker. My mcat was mediocre too at 33. i don't want to do plastics anyways. Fun fact though, 2011 match statistics: with a 260, the match rate for plastics is around 60%. For derm, a 260 match rate is 81%. looking solely at step one of course. I wanna do emergency anyways and apparently the step 1 score isn't valued as much as it is in other specialties. 1) emergency rotation, 2) clinical rotations, 3) LORs, etc. etc.

I'll write something longer up later. tired from medicine rotations ugh.

 

[usmlefighter]

Hello friends, am new to forum. I have few qs for my step-1 prep which am going to give in February.

1. How much step-1 score is needed to get IM,FM,Pediatrics programs. I am an IMG who need visa.

2. I want to use UW Q bank but apart from that am in dilemma to choose between kaplan q bank and usmle rx. I heard that usmle rx is best over kaplan q bank as it will refresh FA revision. what you recommend apart from UW?

3. which is best among goljan and pathoma. some say pathoma is good only for videos?

Thanks in advance and please give me some general advices to score high in step-1

 

[Phloston]

Stay away from kaplan except for pharmacology and raymond 🙂

I'm actually glad you're reiterating that point. I'm trying to blast through the questions in the Kaplan notes (separate from the QBook or Bank) before the end of the month, and I'm already more than annoyed by them (like being in a relationship you know you should've never gotten yourself into in the first place). I do highly recommend the Kaplan behavioral science notes however, at the minimum. And per your above statement, I'll blast through the pharm notes' questions tonight.

Fun fact though, 2011 match statistics: with a 260, the match rate for plastics is around 60%. For derm, a 260 match rate is 81%. looking solely at step one of course. I wanna do emergency anyways and apparently the step 1 score isn't valued as much as it is in other specialties. 1) emergency rotation, 2) clinical rotations, 3) LORs, etc. etc.

I'll write something longer up later. tired from medicine rotations ugh.

Those match statistics are a bit deceiving though. Let's say hypothetically someone REALLY wants Boston but is more or less flexible as far as going into plastics versus gen surg. If he or she puts Harvard Plastics #1, MGH gen surg #2, then Yale plastics #3, for instance, and gets into MGH gen surg, according to the match statistics, he or she did not match because the specialty he or she got into was not the "preferred" one, whereas if he or she had gotten his or her #3 pick, he or she would have matched.

So there are quite a few confounding variables when considering the validity of those match statistics. I can even say that I'd personally probably shoot for location over specialty, but that's just me.

Regardless, awesome to hear of your ER interests.

 

[JasonE]

they like to ask questions that involve giving you a side effect of a drug, and then asking what drug is most likely to cause that effect. the kicker being all the options will be in the same class.

not second year medical knowledge IMO

 

[Belleza156]

Hello friends, am new to forum. I have few qs for my step-1 prep which am going to give in February.

1. How much step-1 score is needed to get IM,FM,Pediatrics programs. I am an IMG who need visa.

2. I want to use UW Q bank but apart from that am in dilemma to choose between kaplan q bank and usmle rx. I heard that usmle rx is best over kaplan q bank as it will refresh FA revision. what you recommend apart from UW?

3. which is best among goljan and pathoma. some say pathoma is good only for videos?

Thanks in advance and please give me some general advices to score high in step-1

1. Look up the NRMP data or go to the Internal Medicine thread and ask there. NRMP data is more useful, becuz residents tend to only know what their specific program requires. So if you have one in mind, ask in the IM thread, otherwise NRMP. They break it down every which way you can think of.

2. No advice, only did Kaplan and Uworld. Do all 3 if you have the time.

3. Read Goljan, see Pathoma videos. For that you do have the time.

4. Read this entire thread from beginning to end and you will get plenty of examples on how to score well on Step 1.

 

[Dallas]

And per your above statement, I'll blast through the pharm notes' questions tonight.

To be frank with you though phloston pharm really isnt a big issue on the exam, if you know the mechanism of action and side effects for all the drugs listed in first aid you will score all the pharm q's on the exam. Its pure rote memorization so I'd save that for the last 3 days before the exam.

 

[Bane]

To be frank with you though phloston pharm really isnt a big issue on the exam, if you know the mechanism of action and side effects for all the drugs listed in first aid you will score all the pharm q's on the exam. Its pure rote memorization so I'd save that for the last 3 days before the exam.

Btw, are you staying you should write in the MOA on all the drugs that don't have them in FA pharm?

 

[Dallas]

Btw, are you staying you should write in the MOA on all the drugs that don't have them in FA pharm?

Which drugs dont have their MOA listed in FA?

 

[Phloston]

Btw, are you staying you should write in the MOA on all the drugs that don't have them in FA pharm?

Which drugs dont have their MOA listed in FA?

I believe FA is probably ~80% sufficient for pharm. There are quite a few drugs, MOAs and side-effects not listed in that book that are high-yield for Step1.

And, yes, I'm aware that many people take their exams and then come back posting on here saying pharm was a joke and that FA+UWorld were enough, but I've also read posts where drugs showed up that "I had never heard of before." It's a toss-up really, as are the wtf-questions in any subject.

For the cancer drugs, I'd know a lot about their cellular signalling pathways and gene regulations as well, not just what's listed in FA.

The anesthetics can also be tricky (the ones at the near-end of neuro chapter in FA). Know those side-effects really well.

Another thing: by the time you sit the exam, p. 263 and 321 of FA should be decimated with annotations.

 

[Dallas]

I believe FA is probably ~80% sufficient for pharm. There are quite a few drugs, MOAs and side-effects not listed in that book that are high-yield for Step1.

And, yes, I'm aware that many people take their exams and then come back posting on here saying pharm was a joke and that FA+UWorld were enough, but I've also read posts where drugs showed up that "I had never heard of before." It's a toss-up really, as are the wtf-questions in any subject.

For the cancer drugs, I'd know a lot about their cellular signalling pathways and gene regulations as well, not just what's listed in FA.

The anesthetics can also be tricky (the ones at the near-end of neuro chapter in FA). Know those side-effects really well.

Another thing: by the time you sit the exam, p. 263 and 321 of FA should be decimated with annotations.

80%? How do figure that number?
I'd say personally 95% on my exam.
No way the average is 80%

 

[thecalccobra]

I believe FA is probably ~80% sufficient for pharm. There are quite a few drugs, MOAs and side-effects not listed in that book that are high-yield for Step1.

And, yes, I'm aware that many people take their exams and then come back posting on here saying pharm was a joke and that FA+UWorld were enough, but I've also read posts where drugs showed up that "I had never heard of before." It's a toss-up really, as are the wtf-questions in any subject.

For the cancer drugs, I'd know a lot about their cellular signalling pathways and gene regulations as well, not just what's listed in FA.

The anesthetics can also be tricky (the ones at the near-end of neuro chapter in FA). Know those side-effects really well.

Another thing: by the time you sit the exam, p. 263 and 321 of FA should be decimated with annotations.

Aside from expanding on the individual pathways themselves ( JAK/STAT, MAP kinase) I don't see what else I can annotate in terms of signaling pathways. Also, pg.261 does a pretty good job with receptors and their functions. Aside from a couple of functions that aren't mentioned, I haven't come across anything else to annotate. Can you give examples of a few annotations you made? Thanks.

 

[da Vincis World]

80%? How do figure that number?
I'd say personally 95% on my exam.
No way the average is 80%

I totally agree. I wouldn't waste even one second on any pharm resources in addition to FA and UWorld.

Using anything other than FA and UWorld would have extremely low returns.

 

[Phloston]

I've encountered quite a bit of material through practice questions that is beyond the coverage of FA. So when I say I believe FA is ~80% sufficient for pharm, that is with respect to questions across various QBanks. I agree that FA covers ~95% of the drugs that are likely to be seen on the exam (based on having read posts), but only about ~80% of the testable detail about those drugs.

I also don't believe that just because some people have easy pharm on their random allotment of 322 questions on the real USMLE means that FA is enough. Everyone gets a different exam and comes out generally remembering what he or she didn't know.

 

[docemre]

Hi everybody, I am a long time viewer of SDN forums and now it's my time to contribute.
My Step 1 was on August 2. Result : 269 / 91

I am just starting my fourth year so I didn't have any rotations. So no need to feel disadvantaged if you're in a similar situation. The exam has absolutely nothing to do with rotations.

6 months of serious preperation, beginning with 3-4 hours a day, 5-6 hours a day in may and 7-8 hours in june and july.

Here are my scores in QBanks and NBME

Kaplan: 83%
Usmle World %86 Self-assesments: both +265 ( but I took both of them in the last week)

Form 6: 530 (4/22)
11: 620 (5/23)
7: 650 (6/19)
12: 670 (7/17)
13: 640 (7/28)

Free 150 taken two days before actual step 1: got 10 questions wrong

Actually I want to write a rather detailed post to explain how I prepared to help everyone I can but I'm not sure this is the right thread. Admin help me out🙂

As for the actual exam:
Behavioral Sciences:
As an IMG, behavioral science always scared me like hell. BUT I was very lucky that my exam was heavy on doctor-patient relationship questions which I felt very comfortable with thanks to Kaplan videos, and had no legal issues and ethics questions whatsoever.

Microbiology, Biochem, Pharmacology: I weep for the money I spent on RR Biochem and Microbiology. Honestly, I think there wasn't a single question from these areas in my exam that didn't have an answer in FA.

Physiology: very similar to NBMEs.

Pathology: When I started preparing for Step 1, I was impressed by Goljan's RR Patho so I recommended it to everybody. Today, I think it's an unnecessarily detailed and complicated book. Pathoma+FA+questions is enough for pathology IMO.

Nutrition, Genetics, Cell bio: FA + UW is enough.

Anatomy: I would suggest getting yourself familiar with CTs. They're explained great in Kaplan videos.

Overall the exam was slightly harder than NBMEs but had much longer questions. I had maybe 3 WTF questions. The rest of the *hard* questions could be deduced with some logic and knowledge.


Finally, for each subject getting every A+ reviewed book in FA may seem like a good idea (it did to me in the beginning) but I think it is not. The thing is, yes there may be a question on the exam one day that cannot be done with FA but done with Goljan or BRS physio. But we all have limited time and limited intelligence. FA has *by far* the highest ratio of getting questions/time dedicated.
Don't tell me you read first aid cover to cover 5 times in the month before the exam and there were so many questions on the exam that wasn't in FA. I read it every single day for 6 months but as I was reviewing in the last few days, I still spotted some little details that I skipped before.
I honestly believe that solely a good knowledge of FA will get anyone to 230-240.

Good luck with your exam!

 

[cage92]

waww nice score can you write your experience in studying and 3 to 4 hours during the year can give an effect in the usmle step1 study beside your clinical courses and other duties?

 

[usmlefighter]

1. Look up the NRMP data or go to the Internal Medicine thread and ask there. NRMP data is more useful, becuz residents tend to only know what their specific program requires. So if you have one in mind, ask in the IM thread, otherwise NRMP. They break it down every which way you can think of.

2. No advice, only did Kaplan and Uworld. Do all 3 if you have the time.

3. Read Goljan, see Pathoma videos. For that you do have the time.

4. Read this entire thread from beginning to end and you will get plenty of examples on how to score well on Step 1.

thank you son much. Yes i need to go through all posts to get a big picture.👍

 

[docemre]

waww nice score can you write your experience in studying and 3 to 4 hours during the year can give an effect in the usmle step1 study beside your clinical courses and other duties?

Well those 3-4 hours mostly came from the lectures i did not attend 🙂 i don't particularly recommend it though if you don't have endless obscure anatomy lectures that you can skip on🙂

 

[alternatego]

Just took my exam today, I didn't feel it that hard, nor did I see extremely long question stems. Pretty basic stuff almost 92.75% of it covered by FA+UW (just trying to impress Phloston here xD). I feel relaxed and glad this hell is over, I don't know what my score will be but I did my best and spared no effort.

 

[RedSoxSuck]

Just took my exam today, I didn't feel it that hard, nor did I see extremely long question stems. Pretty basic stuff almost 92.75% of it covered by FA+UW (just trying to impress Phloston here xD). I feel relaxed and glad this hell is over, I don't know what my score will be but I did my best and spared no effort.

Congrats. Was it similar to uworld or like NBMEs?

 

[Phloston]

Hi everybody, I am a long time viewer of SDN forums and now it's my time to contribute.
My Step 1 was on August 2. Result : 269 / 91

I am just starting my fourth year so I didn't have any rotations. So no need to feel disadvantaged if you're in a similar situation. The exam has absolutely nothing to do with rotations.

6 months of serious preperation, beginning with 3-4 hours a day, 5-6 hours a day in may and 7-8 hours in june and july.

Here are my scores in QBanks and NBME

Kaplan: 83%
Usmle World %86 Self-assesments: both +265 ( but I took both of them in the last week)

Form 6: 530 (4/22)
11: 620 (5/23)
7: 650 (6/19)
12: 670 (7/17)
13: 640 (7/28)

Free 150 taken two days before actual step 1: got 10 questions wrong

Actually I want to write a rather detailed post to explain how I prepared to help everyone I can but I'm not sure this is the right thread. Admin help me out🙂

As for the actual exam:
Behavioral Sciences:
As an IMG, behavioral science always scared me like hell. BUT I was very lucky that my exam was heavy on doctor-patient relationship questions which I felt very comfortable with thanks to Kaplan videos, and had no legal issues and ethics questions whatsoever.

Microbiology, Biochem, Pharmacology: I weep for the money I spent on RR Biochem and Microbiology. Honestly, I think there wasn't a single question from these areas in my exam that didn't have an answer in FA.

Physiology: very similar to NBMEs.

Pathology: When I started preparing for Step 1, I was impressed by Goljan's RR Patho so I recommended it to everybody. Today, I think it's an unnecessarily detailed and complicated book. Pathoma+FA+questions is enough for pathology IMO.

Nutrition, Genetics, Cell bio: FA + UW is enough.

Anatomy: I would suggest getting yourself familiar with CTs. They're explained great in Kaplan videos.

Overall the exam was slightly harder than NBMEs but had much longer questions. I had maybe 3 WTF questions. The rest of the *hard* questions could be deduced with some logic and knowledge.


Finally, for each subject getting every A+ reviewed book in FA may seem like a good idea (it did to me in the beginning) but I think it is not. The thing is, yes there may be a question on the exam one day that cannot be done with FA but done with Goljan or BRS physio. But we all have limited time and limited intelligence. FA has *by far* the highest ratio of getting questions/time dedicated.
Don't tell me you read first aid cover to cover 5 times in the month before the exam and there were so many questions on the exam that wasn't in FA. I read it every single day for 6 months but as I was reviewing in the last few days, I still spotted some little details that I skipped before.
I honestly believe that solely a good knowledge of FA will get anyone to 230-240.

Good luck with your exam!

Great score.

What kinds / ~how many CTs showed up?

It's relieving to hear yet another person say that FA+UW is most of the exam. Just started UWorld last night, and it's already light-years easier than Kaplan.

Just took my exam today, I didn't feel it that hard, nor did I see extremely long question stems. Pretty basic stuff almost 92.75% of it covered by FA+UW (just trying to impress Phloston here xD). I feel relaxed and glad this hell is over, I don't know what my score will be but I did my best and spared no effort.

I hope it feels great finally having made it to the other side. I can't wait for this to all be over with myself. I'm probably going to treat myself to Mexico.

 

[med20140]

Took my exam on 8/28, I've been lurking this thread up to my exam so I thought I'd share my experience since its helped me at times & also stressed me the f*ck out at times too lol.

I'm an IMG and dedicated 3 months for the this exam. My basic study strategy did not focus much on reading FA many times and trying to memorize every detail in there. Instead, I did as many questions as I could get my hands on. Any question that I got wrong, I compiled a word document with the concept/explanation and just kept on reviewing that document over & over again. I also knew anatomy & neuro were my weak points, so I bought corresponding review books specifically for those and read over them. I felt like it helped boost my NBME scores up towards the end.

Resources:
-FA 2012 (read 3x throughout basic sciences, but didn't use it much during the 3 months)
-DIT (watched once through before my comprehensive shelf exam)
-USMLE Road Map Gross Anatomy (read once & looked a pictures multiple times)
-HY Neuroanatomy (read once & looked at pictures multiple times)
-RR Pathology Goljan (looked at all the pictures only)
-Goljan HY36 (read once)
-Goljan audio (listened once at the end of basic sciences)
-Deja review USMLE Step 1 (read once through quickly)

QBanks (did in the following order):
UWorld: 71% (first time) 85% (second time 3 weeks before the exam)
Kaplan: 73%
First Aid Q&A book: 80.5%
USMLERx: 83%

Practice exams (did in the following order):
School comprehensive shelf: 81 (~227)
NBME 3: 228
NBME 5: 231
UWSA 1: 242 (~71% raw correct)
NBME 6: 242 (missed 21)
NBME 11: 252 (missed 17)
NBME 12: 245 (missed 21)
NBME 13: 250 (missed 19)
UWSA 2: 263 (~83% raw correct)
NBME 7: 247 (missed 18)
Prometric practice exam: 94% (130/138)
Kaplan full length simulated exam 1: 78%

Exam experience:
I got about 8-9 hours of sleep & felt well-rested going into it. Took 8-9 minutes after each block to use the restroom & eat a couple bites of food. I thought the exam itself was difficult. I know many people in this thread have said it was somewhere in difficulty between NBME & UWorld, but for my exam it felt harder than UWorld. It kind of felt like when I was just starting to do UWorld for the very first time. I didn't have 1 block that was extremely difficulty compared to the others. I felt half the blocks felt a little harder than the others. Maybe had 1-2 blocks where I walked out saying to myself "oh that wasn't too bad of a block", the others all felt harder. I marked anywhere from 6-12 per block, I think I marked more in the beginning couple of blocks, but then realized there was no point in marking some of the WTF questions so I think thats why I marked less towards the end.

Timing wasn't a huge issue and I'm not the fastest test taker, but I had more time left on practice exams than on the real thing. I had about 7 minutes left for all the blocks except 1, which was just barely enough time to go over my marked quickly. One block I had only 3 minutes and was able to go over only half my marked.

As far as content goes, everyone varies. I didn't feel like one subject was significantly over-tested than the others. I did have an impression there were some more tough ANS pharm graphs, and genetics/cell-molecular biology experiment questions. If I had say, on each block I had about 15% WTF/extremely tough questions, 35% UWorld level medium/harder questions, 50% NBME level easier questions.

I walked out not feeling that good about the exam thinking I probably got a 220, but I heard most people feel the same way walking out as well? It just felt harder than any of the practice exams that I took! My confidence is shrinking with each day I wait 🙁

Does anyone know when my score will come out? I heard it was the third wednesday after your exam? So mine would be on 9/12? The wait afterwards is just as bad as studying for this exam!!!

If anyone has any questions/concerns I'll be happy to answer them the best that I can. Good luck to all the future test takers!

 

[Phloston]

I got about 8-9 hours of sleep & felt well-rested going into it.

Firstly, how in the world did you manage to fall/stay asleep so easily?

As far as content goes, everyone varies. I didn't feel like one subject was significantly over-tested than the others. I did have an impression there were some more tough ANS pharm graphs, and genetics/cell-molecular biology experiment questions.

I'd have to ask then: did you find Kaplan QBank helped in any way with your real exam? I've read way too many posts with people saying that the exam is nothing like Kaplan.

I walked out not feeling that good about the exam thinking I probably got a 220, but I heard most people feel the same way walking out as well? It just felt harder than any of the practice exams that I took! My confidence is shrinking with each day I wait 🙁

I've also read this same statement a thousand separate times already. The most common scenario: guy goes in hoping for 240. Guy walks out hoping he got even a 220. Guy's confidence/happiness decline over 3-week period. Guy gets 241.

Marking only 6-12 per block is good btw.

 

[surftheiop]

Firstly, how in the world did you manage to fall/stay asleep so easily?



.

I was wondering about this, is it pretty much expected that everyone is going to be too nervous to sleep much the night before? I have a hard time falling asleep night before finals, let alone something like this. Or are some people really that calm that they just sleep like its a normal day?

 

[Phloston]

I was wondering about this, is it pretty much expected that everyone is going to be too nervous to sleep much the night before? I have a hard time falling asleep night before finals, let alone something like this. Or are some people really that calm that they just sleep like its a normal day?

I moved up my test date and changed my testing centre specifically because I found a time slot at 12:30pm, as opposed to 8:30am. Even still, I'm not expecting to get more than 7 hrs the night before.

 

[med20140]

Firstly, how in the world did you manage to fall/stay asleep so easily?



I'd have to ask then: did you find Kaplan QBank helped in any way with your real exam? I've read way too many posts with people saying that the exam is nothing like Kaplan.



I've also read this same statement a thousand separate times already. The most common scenario: guy goes in hoping for 240. Guy walks out hoping he got even a 220. Guy's confidence/happiness decline over 3-week period. Guy gets 241.

Marking only 6-12 per block is good btw.

1) Knowing myself, I generally have a hard time falling asleep before major exams so I specifically set my exam time to start at 11am instead of 8-9am like most people. I did not touch anything step 1 related the day before the exam. Went out, did some shopping & watched a movie, I felt this really helped me relax. Also doing the practice exam at the prometric center 2 weeks beforehand really relaxed my mind a bit because I knew the environment I was going into the next day. I went to bed around 8pm anticipating it would take me ~3 hours to fall asleep. I think I fell asleep around 11pm, woke up around 8am & felt fully refreshed. Got to the exam center early & they let me start a little after 10am.

2) Yes it did. The more Qbanks you do, the more comfortable you will be answering the questions on exam day. It will train your brain to get use to questions being thrown at you in different ways/angles that you'll experience on test day. I had the time to do all 3 Qbanks so I took advantage of that. However, if I had to prioritize, I would say UWorld twice minimum. After that I give USMLERx a slight advantage over Kaplan Qbank.

3) Well I'm hoping that goes for me as well. I would say the hardest blocks I encountered were in the beginning and I was more liberal w/ marking. The later blocks I figured my first gut feeling on those WTF/ridiculously hard questions were my best bet so I didn't mark as many of those therefore only marking about 6-8 per block. I figured time was better spent on the 50/50 tough questions I had more of a shot at getting right.