Step I Official 2013 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

Started by Phloston
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Phloston

Osaka, Japan
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I figure now is a good time to jump-start this thread.

Even though some of us who had taken the exam in late-2012 are still awaiting our scores (amid the holiday delays) and could technically still post within last year's thread, it is after all mid-January now, so it's probably apposite that we move forward and hope for a great year.

:luck: Cheers to 2013 :luck:
 
Otherwise, I think pholston (and many others' plan) of doing the Intro sections of FA + pharm at the end of every pathophys section + embryo is an excellent plan of making sure u dont forget the minutae that more often presents itself in these chapters rather than higher level thinking
what is this method ,can anyone explain ???
 
Hey guys,

Took my Step I on 7/18, but have not yet gotten the e-mail or a score on the NBME website. BUT, I saw that Aitzaz got his/her score and took it on the 24th? Does this seem strange? Has anyone had a similar experience?

(Also, I called NBME and they weren't very helpful but basically told me to just check next Wednesday)
 
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Hey guys,

Took my Step I on 7/18, but have not yet gotten the e-mail or a score on the NBME website. BUT, I saw that Aitzaz got his/her score and took it on the 24th? Does this seem strange? Has anyone had a similar experience?

(Also, I called NBME and they weren't very helpful but basically told me to just check next Wednesday)

Where did you take the exam?

The 3 week timeline is a rule of thumb.. but sometimes it takes longer. Wouldn't get too worried yet. I know I've read of some people who said they got their scores late.
 
Read through a bunch of these during my freak-out Step 1 period... Hope this helps someone down the line

Studied for 5 weeks, did DIT in 3.5 weeks with a study partner...

Did one Uworld Qset 1st thing in the morning... went over answers, wrote down random facts in a notebook/annotated FA
listened to 9-12 lectures/day
Spent the evening going over/memorizing FA details on topics covered in DIT that day

Last 10days did 2problem sets/day, read FA, and reviewed my notebook of random facts... Started by reading FA sections I wasn't too comfortable with

Uworld: finished 90% of Qbank, started and ended with timed random sets... was in the 40s first week.... overall 69%, ranging between 76-85% last 16 sets

UWorld SA 1 : 247 day after finishing DIT (10 days before exam)

Exam experience:
Cried on my drive home....

I felt like I had guessed (and not educated guesses) 80% of my exam. it was nothing like what I expected. I had no time to review marked questions and barely finished on time for every section. stopped marking questions after 2nd set. By the last 2 sets I had given up and felt like I was randomly clicking answers just to finish. It was the worst feeling ever. I had many nightmares in the following weeks.... Was initially aiming for a 240... walked out almost positive I got something below 200 or failed... would have been happy/shocked to see anything close to 220....had started making plans for an alternate/backup career in my head 😀

Actual score: 240 😀

moral of the story: when people tell you you did better than you think you did, take their word for it!
 
Is there any real difference between the 2nd and 3rd edition of the microcards??? Is it worth splurging for the 3rd edition?

I remember someone asked Phloston the same question. He replied that he used the second edition 🙂

3rd edition has a few changes (kid in my PhD lab has the pack and I've looked through it), but they're not a big deal. 2nd edition is good.

Few discrepancies between Microcards and FA though:

Microcards mention delta virus as icosahedral but FA and literature --> helical.

Microcards mention arena virus as ss(-) non-segmented RNA virus, but FA says circular with two segments.

Microcards also list bunyavirus as ss(-) segmented, but FA mentions that it's circular with three segments.

That's all I can really think of right now, but apart from that, Microcards are solid.
 
3rd edition has a few changes (kid in my PhD lab has the pack and I've looked through it), but they're not a big deal. 2nd edition is good.

Few discrepancies between Microcards and FA though:

Microcards mention delta virus as icosahedral but FA and literature --> helical.

Microcards mention arena virus as ss(-) non-segmented RNA virus, but FA says circular with two segments.

Microcards also list bunyavirus as ss(-) segmented, but FA mentions that it's circular with three segments.

That's all I can really think of right now, but apart from that, Microcards are solid.

How's the Step 2 training coming along?
 
For those of you that do UW in random blocks, does the computer generate an equal number of question from each subject (pharm, micro, etc.) r does it give you mostly path/pharm/micro questions since those are covered more on step 1?
 
For those of you that do UW in random blocks, does the computer generate an equal number of question from each subject (pharm, micro, etc.) r does it give you mostly path/pharm/micro questions since those are covered more on step 1?

I thought it was pretty spread out... and the component of each changed with each test..... just like the real exam.... but it's fairly spread -out and it seemed absolutely random.... I felt like some blocks, I had 4/5 behavioral sci/ethics question while in some blocks I just had one question on that subject..... so it seems completely random (while also spread out across all topics)
 
3rd edition has a few changes (kid in my PhD lab has the pack and I've looked through it), but they're not a big deal. 2nd edition is good.

Few discrepancies between Microcards and FA though:

Microcards mention delta virus as icosahedral but FA and literature --> helical.

Microcards mention arena virus as ss(-) non-segmented RNA virus, but FA says circular with two segments.

Microcards also list bunyavirus as ss(-) segmented, but FA mentions that it's circular with three segments.

That's all I can really think of right now, but apart from that, Microcards are solid.

Thanks Pholston, im kinda freaking out now 🙁. Trying to be ready by the end of next month to take this exam...i feel like every day i forget what ive reviewed a few days ago...🙁.
 
Read through a bunch of these during my freak-out Step 1 period... Hope this helps someone down the line

Studied for 5 weeks, did DIT in 3.5 weeks with a study partner...

Did one Uworld Qset 1st thing in the morning... went over answers, wrote down random facts in a notebook/annotated FA
listened to 9-12 lectures/day
Spent the evening going over/memorizing FA details on topics covered in DIT that day

Last 10days did 2problem sets/day, read FA, and reviewed my notebook of random facts... Started by reading FA sections I wasn't too comfortable with

Uworld: finished 90% of Qbank, started and ended with timed random sets... was in the 40s first week.... overall 69%, ranging between 76-85% last 16 sets

UWorld SA 1 : 247 day after finishing DIT (10 days before exam)

Exam experience:
Cried on my drive home....


I felt like I had guessed (and not educated guesses) 80% of my exam. it was nothing like what I expected. I had no time to review marked questions and barely finished on time for every section. stopped marking questions after 2nd set. By the last 2 sets I had given up and felt like I was randomly clicking answers just to finish. It was the worst feeling ever. I had many nightmares in the following weeks.... Was initially aiming for a 240... walked out almost positive I got something below 200 or failed... would have been happy/shocked to see anything close to 220....had started making plans for an alternate/backup career in my head 😀

Actual score: 240 😀

moral of the story: when people tell you you did better than you think you did, take their word for it!

congratulations!!

Truly appreciate the bolded analysis of your experience! 🙂
 
Read through a bunch of these during my freak-out Step 1 period... Hope this helps someone down the line

Studied for 5 weeks, did DIT in 3.5 weeks with a study partner...

Did one Uworld Qset 1st thing in the morning... went over answers, wrote down random facts in a notebook/annotated FA
listened to 9-12 lectures/day
Spent the evening going over/memorizing FA details on topics covered in DIT that day

Last 10days did 2problem sets/day, read FA, and reviewed my notebook of random facts... Started by reading FA sections I wasn't too comfortable with

Uworld: finished 90% of Qbank, started and ended with timed random sets... was in the 40s first week.... overall 69%, ranging between 76-85% last 16 sets

UWorld SA 1 : 247 day after finishing DIT (10 days before exam)

Exam experience:
Cried on my drive home....

I felt like I had guessed (and not educated guesses) 80% of my exam. it was nothing like what I expected. I had no time to review marked questions and barely finished on time for every section. stopped marking questions after 2nd set. By the last 2 sets I had given up and felt like I was randomly clicking answers just to finish. It was the worst feeling ever. I had many nightmares in the following weeks.... Was initially aiming for a 240... walked out almost positive I got something below 200 or failed... would have been happy/shocked to see anything close to 220....had started making plans for an alternate/backup career in my head 😀

Actual score: 240 😀

moral of the story: when people tell you you did better than you think you did, take their word for it!
Congrats 🙂
 
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Read through a bunch of these during my freak-out Step 1 period... Hope this helps someone down the line

Studied for 5 weeks, did DIT in 3.5 weeks with a study partner...

Did one Uworld Qset 1st thing in the morning... went over answers, wrote down random facts in a notebook/annotated FA
listened to 9-12 lectures/day
Spent the evening going over/memorizing FA details on topics covered in DIT that day

Last 10days did 2problem sets/day, read FA, and reviewed my notebook of random facts... Started by reading FA sections I wasn't too comfortable with

Uworld: finished 90% of Qbank, started and ended with timed random sets... was in the 40s first week.... overall 69%, ranging between 76-85% last 16 sets

UWorld SA 1 : 247 day after finishing DIT (10 days before exam)

Exam experience:
Cried on my drive home....

I felt like I had guessed (and not educated guesses) 80% of my exam. it was nothing like what I expected. I had no time to review marked questions and barely finished on time for every section. stopped marking questions after 2nd set. By the last 2 sets I had given up and felt like I was randomly clicking answers just to finish. It was the worst feeling ever. I had many nightmares in the following weeks.... Was initially aiming for a 240... walked out almost positive I got something below 200 or failed... would have been happy/shocked to see anything close to 220....had started making plans for an alternate/backup career in my head 😀

Actual score: 240 😀

moral of the story: when people tell you you did better than you think you did, take their word for it!

Congratulations!!
 
Read through a bunch of these during my freak-out Step 1 period... Hope this helps someone down the line

Studied for 5 weeks, did DIT in 3.5 weeks with a study partner...

Did one Uworld Qset 1st thing in the morning... went over answers, wrote down random facts in a notebook/annotated FA
listened to 9-12 lectures/day
Spent the evening going over/memorizing FA details on topics covered in DIT that day

Last 10days did 2problem sets/day, read FA, and reviewed my notebook of random facts... Started by reading FA sections I wasn't too comfortable with

Uworld: finished 90% of Qbank, started and ended with timed random sets... was in the 40s first week.... overall 69%, ranging between 76-85% last 16 sets

UWorld SA 1 : 247 day after finishing DIT (10 days before exam)

Exam experience:
Cried on my drive home....

I felt like I had guessed (and not educated guesses) 80% of my exam. it was nothing like what I expected. I had no time to review marked questions and barely finished on time for every section. stopped marking questions after 2nd set. By the last 2 sets I had given up and felt like I was randomly clicking answers just to finish. It was the worst feeling ever. I had many nightmares in the following weeks.... Was initially aiming for a 240... walked out almost positive I got something below 200 or failed... would have been happy/shocked to see anything close to 220....had started making plans for an alternate/backup career in my head 😀

Actual score: 240 😀

moral of the story: when people tell you you did better than you think you did, take their word for it!

i felt the same on my exam: i went in there feeling it would go ok, but felt like crying after the exam. Took it on july 30th, still waiting for my results. I really feel like i didn't do so well, the first 2 blocks were insane, i got so many cell bio and genetics questions! Great job on your score! hope i have a similar story 🙁
 
Just a quick question, I have a month to go till the exam, have 30% of UWorld left and I'm going to take a NBME soon to see if my prep so far is alright. Is it worth doing Kaplan Qbank or USMLERx once I finish UWorld? Or is it better to just stick to Uworld and do the incorrect again and know it well?
Any input appreciated, Thanks!
 
Just a quick question, I have a month to go till the exam, have 30% of UWorld left and I'm going to take a NBME soon to see if my prep so far is alright. Is it worth doing Kaplan Qbank or USMLERx once I finish UWorld? Or is it better to just stick to Uworld and do the incorrect again and know it well?
Any input appreciated, Thanks!

I would muster a guess and say that you should finish UWorld and know it well. How is your retention of FA material? If you're solid on it, forget about Rx.
 
A weird case: my friend finished UW with 90% (timed, random, 1st time). Even with that high cumulative, he got 259 and 257 in NBME 15 and 13, respectively. Any similar case?!
 
3rd edition has a few changes (kid in my PhD lab has the pack and I've looked through it), but they're not a big deal. 2nd edition is good.

Few discrepancies between Microcards and FA though:

Microcards mention delta virus as icosahedral but FA and literature --> helical.

Microcards mention arena virus as ss(-) non-segmented RNA virus, but FA says circular with two segments.

Microcards also list bunyavirus as ss(-) segmented, but FA mentions that it's circular with three segments.

That's all I can really think of right now, but apart from that, Microcards are solid.

I went ahead and ordered the newest edition, the preview for them looked great 🙂.
 
He did not get the result yet. The weird thing that although his UW cumulative is superb (90%), his NBMEs are not parallel to it. I did not find any similar case in the thread. Anybody with similar experience?
 
He did not get the result yet. The weird thing that although his UW cumulative is superb (90%), his NBMEs are not parallel to it. I did not find any similar case in the thread. Anybody with similar experience?

Yup, me (kind of). 89% cumulative on uworld (timed, unused, random 46ers), rising slowly (have done about 2/3 of the qbank). I got a 660 (259) on NBME 12 (8 weeks out) and NBME 11 got me a 670 (261) (today - 4 weeks out), after a 5-day vacation...however I should note that I have not yet completed a first pass of FA (relied too heavily on review books and started annotating too late).

I guess that there is some correlation between qbank score and real deal, though the correlation coefficient for that has a rather small value...There is no need to be demoralized over a low(=lower than expected) NBME or qbank %. Studying hard and constantly improvising one's studying and testtaking strategy are all that's needed.
 
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Yup, me (kind of). 89% cumulative on uworld (timed, unused, random 46ers), rising slowly (have done about 2/3 of the qbank). I got a 660 (259) on NBME 12 (8 weeks out) and NBME 11 got me a 670 (261) (today - 4 weeks out), after a 5-day vacation...however I should note that I have not yet completed a first pass of FA (relied too heavily on review books and started annotating too late).

I guess that there is some correlation between qbank score and real deal, though the correlation coefficient for that has a rather small value...There is no need to be demoralized over a low(=lower than expected) NBME or qbank %. Studying hard and constantly improvising one's studying and testtaking strategy are all that's needed.

Thanks for input. My friend's NBMEs were -after UW completion- 2 weeks and one week before the test. I think your case is a bit different since FA X3 and UW were completed before NBMEs. What do you think? Their NBMEs don't correlate at all with the UW score
 
Thanks for input. My friend's NBMEs were -after UW completion- 2 weeks and one week before the test. I think your case is a bit different since FA X3 and UW were completed before NBMEs. What do you think? Their NBMEs don't correlate at all with the UW score

Unfortunately I have noted that the NBMEs are the only -reasonably accurate- predictive tools for the real score...However, big leaps forward in terms of score are quite possible (though rather rare). Given that your friend seems to have a strong knowledge base as indicated by the qbank %, it may have been a matter of endurance or stress.
 
Yup, me (kind of). 89% cumulative on uworld (timed, unused, random 46ers), rising slowly (have done about 2/3 of the qbank). I got a 660 (259) on NBME 12 (8 weeks out) and NBME 11 got me a 670 (261) (today - 4 weeks out), after a 5-day vacation...however I should note that I have not yet completed a first pass of FA (relied too heavily on review books and started annotating too late).

I guess that there is some correlation between qbank score and real deal, though the correlation coefficient for that has a rather small value...There is no need to be demoralized over a low(=lower than expected) NBME or qbank %. Studying hard and constantly improvising one's studying and testtaking strategy are all that's needed.

Wow that's impressive. I'm barely managing a 70% Uworld first pass, and most were done subject wise. I'm going to take my first NBME soon, which one would you suggest?
 
Wow that's impressive. I'm barely managing a 70% Uworld first pass, and most were done subject wise. I'm going to take my first NBME soon, which one would you suggest?

I would suggest any of the 11-15 range NBMEs, but be sure to do 15, and preferably last as it is the one most similar to the current exam. Also pick extended editions so that you can see your mistakes afterwards.

About the Qbank %, it is generally considered a must to check which topics you get wrong and put a greater emphasis on them while studying. Read the explanation for every question whose answer you were unsure of (even if you got it right eventually). Personally, when approaching a question, I usually try not only picking the right answer, but also rapidly thinking why each of the other options is wrong. Moreover, this thread has a ton of posts with helpful info about optimization of the qbank use!

In the end though (personal experience), it is all about 1) capacity to apply knowledge and 2) knowledge of facts. Keep practicing to increase your ability to make correct educated guesses and study hard and smart to keep these guessing instances at a minimum.
 
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I would suggest any of the 11-15 range NBMEs, but be sure to do 15, and preferably last as it is the one most similar to the current exam. Also pick extended editions so that you can see your mistakes afterwards.

About the Qbank %, it is generally considered a must to check which topics you get wrong and put a greater emphasis on them while studying. Read the explanation for every question whose answer you were unsure of (even if you got it right eventually). Personally, when approaching a question, I usually try not only picking the right answer, but also rapidly thinking why each of the other options is wrong. Moreover, this thread has a ton of posts with helpful info about optimization of the qbank use!

In the end though (personal experience), it is all about 1) capacity to apply knowledge and 2) knowledge of facts. Keep practicing to increase your ability to make correct educated guesses and study hard and smart to keep these guessing instances at a minimum.

I'll keep that in mind while doing the Qbank, thanks for the advice!
 
Sorry if this has been asked a million times already, but does anyone know if the exam gets harder the later in the year you take it when it's not "peak" season?
 
Long time lurker on this thread. Score came back last week. It's in this blog post.

Also, off the top of my head here were the scores of practice tests in order (ish)

NBME 12 = 245
Kaplan FL 1 = 244
CBSE = 242
UWA 1 = 246
NBME 13 = 250 something
NBME 6,7,11 = Offline, 90+%
Kaplan FL 2 = 255
UWA 2 = 265+
NBME 15 = 250 something

Moral of the story, do a ton of questions.
 
And if people were interested in their percentile, assuming a normal distribution around 227 with a SD of 22 (those are the #s on the score report, but it does not assume a normal distribution) you can use this equation.

solve[22*sqrt(2)*erfc^(-1)((100-x)/50)+227=y,x]

where y is your score.

Put it into this website and it will give you your percentile

http://www.wolframalpha.com
 
Took mine on the 28th n still waiting... Im hoping the print permit link disappears tomorrow so we know...
I am pretty sure my scheduling permit link has disappeared if I'm understanding all of the legend regarding the permit. Can anyone take a look and tell me what they think? There was a hyperlink under "Permit Available Date" this morning...it is not there anymore.
 

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And if people were interested in their percentile, assuming a normal distribution around 227 with a SD of 22 (those are the #s on the score report, but it does not assume a normal distribution) you can use this equation.

solve[22*sqrt(2)*erfc^(-1)((100-x)/50)+227=y,x]

where y is your score.

Put it into this website and it will give you your percentile

http://www.wolframalpha.com

What is the point of this equation if the NBME comes out and flatly states those numbers are NOT pertaining to a normal distribution?

From what I understand, along with a canonical Phloston post (see below) from like a year ago and a med school dean the test's score distribution has a right skew and, therefore, is far from normal.

See post #91 (first image): http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=13594836
 
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And if people were interested in their percentile, assuming a normal distribution around 227 with a SD of 22 (those are the #s on the score report, but it does not assume a normal distribution) you can use this equation.

solve[22*sqrt(2)*erfc^(-1)((100-x)/50)+227=y,x]

where y is your score.

Put it into this website and it will give you your percentile

http://www.wolframalpha.com

This may be subject to change. When I got my score back initially on July 10 there were different numbers being reported with a much narrower SD. I think this number floats as more people get their scores reported. But at this point we may be far enough along that the numbers are pretty close to final.

I'd like to see something actually released by the NBME that has more rigorous stats rather than just a mean and SD spit out on the score report. Anyone know if/when something like this comes out?
 
This may be subject to change. When I got my score back initially on July 10 there were different numbers being reported with a much narrower SD. I think this number floats as more people get their scores reported. But at this point we may be far enough along that the numbers are pretty close to final.

I'd like to see something actually released by the NBME that has more rigorous stats rather than just a mean and SD spit out on the score report. Anyone know if/when something like this comes out?

No.

Knowing how they're driven by money, they'd probably jack up the price $100 per exam just to tell us what the Mode is and call it Super Extended Feedback.
 
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I know most people here wouldn't even know what to say to this...

But I just did UWSA 1 and got 221... My exam is September 7th and I'm completely freaking out right now...

I just did NBME 11 a couple of days ago and got 214. I don't understand how my UWSA score is 221?! (I'm going by subtracting 20 from UWSA to get your real score).
 
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I know most people here wouldn't even know what to say to this...

But I just did UWSA 1 and got 221... My exam is September 7th and I'm completely freaking out right now...

I just did NBME 11 a couple of days ago and got 214. I don't understand how my UWSA score is 221?! (I'm going by subtracting 20 from UWSA to get your real score).

the nbme is predictive so your probably around the 214 range... take another nbme in a week and you'll know for sure.. uwsa's overpredict
 
I know most people here wouldn't even know what to say to this...

But I just did UWSA 1 and got 221... My exam is September 7th and I'm completely freaking out right now...

I just did NBME 11 a couple of days ago and got 214. I don't understand how my UWSA score is 221?! (I'm going by subtracting 20 from UWSA to get your real score).


you are a failure and a disgrace to the medical profession. please withdraw from med school immediately and apply for a job at burger king
 
Long time lurker on this thread. Score came back last week. It's in this blog post.

Also, off the top of my head here were the scores of practice tests in order (ish)

NBME 12 = 245
Kaplan FL 1 = 244
CBSE = 242
UWA 1 = 246
NBME 13 = 250 something
NBME 6,7,11 = Offline, 90+%
Kaplan FL 2 = 255
UWA 2 = 265+
NBME 15 = 250 something

Moral of the story, do a ton of questions.

I didn't know that you could get a step 1 equivalent from a kaplan full length. Where did you make that correlation? I would like to know since I've done one so far and I can't seem to get any feedback on where I stand based on my result.
 
Wow that's impressive. I'm barely managing a 70% Uworld first pass, and most were done subject wise. I'm going to take my first NBME soon, which one would you suggest?

Don't worry about the UW % rate. I had like a 65% first time through, but still came out in the 250's on step 1.
I didn't expend too much energy on NBME's (just did 11 or 7 - can't remember - 5 weeks out) since they don't really "teach" you much except for what you got wrong.

My roommate did Kaplan QBank, UsmleRX, and then UW 2 times - redid mistakes on all of them. Did NOT read First Aid :scared: (skimmed like 1/5 of it) and still scored in 240's.👍
However, he did have a pretty outstanding foundation and solid understanding of many concepts that I struggled with.