Official 2013 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Phloston]

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.

Cheers to 2013

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[CaliAtenza]

Thanks man! I really appreciate it. What was the interval between NBME 13 and 15? I just want to know how many weeks took from you to jump that great way!
As of "doing rest offline", do you mean even the very old NBMEs 1,2,3,4 and 5?
How many passes of FA you made so far?

Thanks for kind words. Actually, I want neurosurgery so 240 is no longer considered great enough in these days?

Oh I did 13 in June.. I just took 15 a couple of days ago.. So it's been like a 4 month gap. I took those 4 months to get straightened out . I did 5 offline, and then did the other nbmes that I had done previously offline. I didn't score myself or anything like that but I made sure to learn from my mistakes and to understand the questions

 

[CaliAtenza]

wow man, halfway through nbme 15. This exams a pain in the ass. (no spoilers)

Honestly I didn't think it was that bad, everyone was saying it was scary lol.. I saw a few of the questions beforehand , they seemed fine to me..

 

[Modeselektor]

Honestly I didn't think it was that bad, everyone was saying it was scary lol.. I saw a few of the questions beforehand , they seemed fine to me..

Dude this form is making me **** bricks. hahaha. At the very least I'm getting an idea of how to perform under fight or flight conditions for the real thing.

I'm predicting your USWA to go by quite well tomorrow. I've written that one, and I'm pretty sure you're gonna beat it into submission victory.

Aight time for me to stop procrastinating and rationalizing said procrastination. See ya in an hour.

 

[CaliAtenza]

Dude this form is making me **** bricks. hahaha. At the very least I'm getting an idea of how to perform under fight or flight conditions for the real thing.

I'm predicting your USWA to go by quite well tomorrow. I've written that one, and I'm pretty sure you're gonna beat it into submission victory.

Aight time for me to stop procrastinating and rationalizing said procrastination. See ya in an hour.

man i hope so!! i tend to forget drug mechanisms the most .

 

[Modeselektor]

I got 264 (680) on NBME 15. Highest NBME score yet for me.
No clue how.

You'll be good man. UWSA 1 is a pretty swell test. Just skim through those mechanisms before hand. After you're done the uwsa make some flash cards for the mechanisms and go through them everyday I guess.

BTW. I suck at remembering adverse effects haha. B/w the two of us we have a decent knowledge of pharm.

 

[CaliAtenza]

I got 264 (680) on NBME 15. Highest NBME score yet for me.
No clue how.

You'll be good man. UWSA is a pretty swell test. Just skim through those mechanism before hand. After you're done make some flash cards for the mechanisms and go through them everyday I guess.

BTW. I suck at remembering adverse effects haha. B/w the two of us we have a decent knowledge of pharm.

Glad to hear I am not the only one!! There are a LOT of drugs to know. Awesome score on 15!! I am hoping the real exam will be like 15 as well . Are the UWSA questions like the nbme questions? Or are they more like the u world Q bank questions?

 

[Modeselektor]

Its like Uworld but a tad bit easier. I found it much more straightforward than NBME form 15.

 

[CaliAtenza]

Its like Uworld but a tad bit easier. I found it much more straightforward than NBME form 15.

ah okay, that sounds good . To be frank, maybe its due to the fact that i have been doing NBME's offline and looking over all the wrong ones in my previous NBMEs, but i honestly didnt find form 15 that tricky ( i missed 18 questions, of those, some were tricky). I feel like if you know the material, you would do well.

 

[Doctosanthewan]

oh man.



hahaha. At this point all we can do is start to wind it down and convince ourselves to have faith in our prep. Get more sleep so we can remember random details from out of nowhere, those aha moments when you vividly remember a detail from 5 years ago. Its gonna be aight man. We did work, now we got let ourselves peak. I'll let you know how it went, I figure its gonna be like everyone says "you have no idea and you may even think you failed" like an extended version of the feeling you get after you click done on an nbme.

listen to this and think about how long and hard you worked to get here. Sure there were down times and lazy days, for me sometimes lazy weeks, but you studied a ****load, and it will pay off man. Good luck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG9-j3eevL4

Haha yea man I keep telling my stuff that information is all in there and to just trust and have faith that the information will come out when its most needed... hopefully!!
P.s. awesome link, got me fired up and raring to go haha. Hans Zimmer is a genius with backing soundtracks.

Caliatenza: You should also try doing the NBME's online, esp if you want an accurate score prediction. The reason being is that there is a weighting in the way that they are scored. For example, 19 wrong could be a 230 or a 250, depending on which ones you got wrong. Plus some of those answer keys are waaay off the mark sometimes. Either way, 19 incorrects out of 200 questions is still very solid.

Best of luck to you both!!!

 

[ninjasurgeron]

Its like Uworld but a tad bit easier. I found it much more straightforward than NBME form 15.

Modeselektor, what was your study strategy for the basic sciences?

 

[Ryan71]

I think for those NBME scores to be accurate you must do them online and absolutely not have this phrase in your vocabulary...

"i saw a couple of the questions beforehand"

That totally messes up your score. In some cases on those tests the difference between a 235 --- > 240 is like 2 questions more correct. When you get up higher I bet the difference between 250--- > 260 is 1 question (total guess)... but you catch my drift.

 

[Jemeni]

A quick question to those here who have used them -

Would Rx or Kaplan be a better second qBank to use along with coursework? I can get Rx for $99 for the next couple of days only, and Kaplan for about $209.

 

[Modeselektor]

Modeselektor, what was your study strategy for the basic sciences?

Keep in mind that n=1 and I have NOT YET GIVEN THE STEP. But I pretty much only did FA.

I have done a **** load of passes over it. I put why? on a postit in front of me and used references/google to know why every point in FA was there, or thought about it until I came up with a reason.

I did DIT too and had pathoma for reference (only used for nephro) but watched all the vids.

Once DIT was done I put all the rapid review things in the back of FA into anki and I started doing qbanks, and leaving myself a one-line-limit for annotations into FA. I was doing qbanks 4-5 blocks/day and alternating with an FA reading day. In a qbank if I came across a cool image/pathway I would copy it into anki. On these FA readings anything I came across which was a blatant list I put into anki after making up a mnemonic. With these readings I also had a dictophone I would use to lecture to myself anything I had forgotten. At the ends of chapters, the end of the day, and the car ride to tim horton's the next day I would listen to these short "lectures" (I hate writing). This is pretty much all I did.

The only other thing I did in med school was nail the general chapters of robbins and pharm really hard and read guyton, lehninger and histo (but this was a while ago). I figured if I knew that stuff really well I could pretty much fill in the gaps with it.

 

[ninjasurgeron]

Keep in mind that n=1 and I have NOT YET GIVEN THE STEP. But I pretty much only did FA.

I have done a **** load of passes over it. I put why? on a postit in front of me and used references/google to know why every point in FA was there, or thought about it until I came up with a reason.

I did DIT too and had pathoma for reference (only used for nephro) but watched all the vids.

Once DIT was done I put all the rapid review things in the back of FA into anki and I started doing qbanks, and leaving myself a one-line-limit for annotations into FA. I was doing qbanks 4-5 blocks/day and alternating with an FA reading day. In a qbank if I came across a cool image/pathway I would copy it into anki. On these FA readings anything I came across which was a blatant list I put into anki after making up a mnemonic. With these readings I also had a dictophone I would use to lecture to myself anything I had forgotten. At the ends of chapters, the end of the day, and the car ride to tim horton's the next day I would listen to these short "lectures" (I hate writing). This is pretty much all I did.

The only other thing I did in med school was nail the general chapters of robbins and pharm really hard and read guyton, lehninger and histo (but this was a while ago). I figured if I knew that stuff really well I could pretty much fill in the gaps with it.

I know you haven't taken it but I feel like I would be in your place a few months from now. It seems like we have a similar gameplan except for the recordings. I would get mugged if I walked to school with my headphones. Have you checked out the Goljan lectures? When you say that you've done a ton of passes on FA, was this during your dedicated study period or throughout your MS1/2 year/s?

I like your study strategy. You have a very efficient workflow.

 

[Brain Bucket]

I would get mugged if I walked to school with my headphones.

 

[Modeselektor]

I know you haven't taken it but I feel like I would be in your place a few months from now. It seems like we have a similar gameplan except for the recordings. I would get mugged if I walked to school with my headphones. Have you checked out the Goljan lectures? When you say that you've done a ton of passes on FA, was this during your dedicated study period or throughout your MS1/2 year/s?

I like your study strategy. You have a very efficient workflow.

I did like one of the goljan lectures. They're probably good, but I just never got around to them haha. Yeah I started FA well back during 2nd year, mostly read it and crammed w/e extra material I needed to before class tests (if i felt like it). There's a pretty sweet anki file out there that has the gist of FA in it. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2374623780

I had anki synced with my phone so I could hammer out revisions throughout the day too.

The main thing I did was qbanks. I read a post on here by someone named maryjane85 and followed their advice on doing 4 qbanks (rapid review patho was a load of crap tho, wish I hadn't done it) and only annotating ~ one line per question and knowing that well. (sometimes this line was like: READ ALL THE ****ING OPTIONS or READ WHATEVER OPTION YOU PICK BACK TO YOU ) Once again take whatever I say with grain of salt and spoonful of hot sauce cause i'm one guy and I haven't written it just yet.

 

[CaliAtenza]

I think for those NBME scores to be accurate you must do them online and absolutely not have this phrase in your vocabulary...

"i saw a couple of the questions beforehand"

That totally messes up your score. In some cases on those tests the difference between a 235 --- > 240 is like 2 questions more correct. When you get up higher I bet the difference between 250--- > 260 is 1 question (total guess)... but you catch my drift.

No I understand what you are saying, i just saw a couple to get the flavor of form 15.. Everyone was freaking out as to how tough it was...

 

[CaliAtenza]

Haha yea man I keep telling my stuff that information is all in there and to just trust and have faith that the information will come out when its most needed... hopefully!!
P.s. awesome link, got me fired up and raring to go haha. Hans Zimmer is a genius with backing soundtracks.

Caliatenza: You should also try doing the NBME's online, esp if you want an accurate score prediction. The reason being is that there is a weighting in the way that they are scored. For example, 19 wrong could be a 230 or a 250, depending on which ones you got wrong. Plus some of those answer keys are waaay off the mark sometimes. Either way, 19 incorrects out of 200 questions is still very solid.

Best of luck to you both!!!

I did all the old nbmes online... Did very poorly. I figured, instead of Doing all of them online again, I'd just do them offline to save time . I know the answer keys are way off the mark but I relied on the good folks at sdn here .

 

[stronghold]

Keep in mind that n=1 and I have NOT YET GIVEN THE STEP. But I pretty much only did FA.

I have done a **** load of passes over it. I put why? on a postit in front of me and used references/google to know why every point in FA was there, or thought about it until I came up with a reason.

I did DIT too and had pathoma for reference (only used for nephro) but watched all the vids.

Once DIT was done I put all the rapid review things in the back of FA into anki and I started doing qbanks, and leaving myself a one-line-limit for annotations into FA. I was doing qbanks 4-5 blocks/day and alternating with an FA reading day. In a qbank if I came across a cool image/pathway I would copy it into anki. On these FA readings anything I came across which was a blatant list I put into anki after making up a mnemonic. With these readings I also had a dictophone I would use to lecture to myself anything I had forgotten. At the ends of chapters, the end of the day, and the car ride to tim horton's the next day I would listen to these short "lectures" (I hate writing). This is pretty much all I did.

The only other thing I did in med school was nail the general chapters of robbins and pharm really hard and read guyton, lehninger and histo (but this was a while ago). I figured if I knew that stuff really well I could pretty much fill in the gaps with it.

Sweet that you got 264 in NBME 15. Given NBME 7 underestimates real score, I am 100% sure that you will get more than 260 in the real deal How many passes of FA you did so far?

Good luck to you, CaliAtenza, and everybody!

 

[CaliAtenza]

I think for those NBME scores to be accurate you must do them online and absolutely not have this phrase in your vocabulary...

"i saw a couple of the questions beforehand"

That totally messes up your score. In some cases on those tests the difference between a 235 --- > 240 is like 2 questions more correct. When you get up higher I bet the difference between 250--- > 260 is 1 question (total guess)... but you catch my drift.

i took 7, 11, and 13 all online...starting back in March. I got 290,320, and 360..respectively, with 13 being the last one i did in June. As i explained here before, i was totally lost and completely demoralized. I just decided to change up my studying strategy and did everything all over again. I described what i did, if you go up a few posts. What i did though, was go through the NBME's again, after the 4 month period, and work out the incorrect ones again. I didnt see those exams untill my second pass of U world was done and my knowledge and understanding were much improved. I felt confident after doing that, and after more reviewing, i decided to take 15 online a few days ago. I understand i saw a couple of the questions beforehand, but everyone here and on other forums were saying its a really tough exam...i just wanted to see the kind of questions that were being asked. After seeing them, i didnt feel like the exam was very tough or anything like that. I know seeing a couple of questions may or may not change my score, but i ended up getting a 254, i dont think a couple of questions this way or that way on the real thing will change the final result that much.

 

[Modeselektor]

I wish I could tell you how many passes but since I used anki so extensively there may have been areas in FA which I've seen over 50 times (tougher areas for me). As for official cover to covers I have no idea but I would wager it between 5 and 7.

 

[CaliAtenza]

Sweet that you got 264 in NBME 15. Given NBME 7 underestimates real score, I am 100% sure that you will get more than 260 in the real deal How many passes of FA you did so far?

Good luck to you, CaliAtenza, and everybody!

Thanks . I know a member just mentioned that the NBME weights each question differently, but does the real exam do that?? I have never heard that before...i thought each question on the real exam was worth the same..no matter the subject matter or the difficulty.

 

[CaliAtenza]

I wish I could tell you how many passes but since I used anki so extensively there may have been areas in FA which I've seen over 50 times. As for official cover to covers I have no idea but I would wager it between 5 and 7.

man i wish i had known about Anki before...not less than a week before the exam lol.

 

[Neuropeptide]

I will be soon be a MS-I. Do you have any advice, on how I should structure the next two years of study to be well-prepared for Step 1? Thank you.

 

[Brain Bucket]

When I linked this thread, I meant read it.

 

[loltopsy]

When I linked this thread, I meant read it.

Directions unclear, penis stuck in computer fan.

 

[DCBFan]

A quick question to those here who have used them -

Would Rx or Kaplan be a better second qBank to use along with coursework? I can get Rx for $99 for the next couple of days only, and Kaplan for about $209.

I would give Rx the slight edge if they were the same price, but since its $110 cheaper I vote Rx unequivocally.

 

[Phloston]

Sweet that you got 264 in NBME 15. Given NBME 7 underestimates real score, I am 100% sure that you will get more than 260 in the real deal How many passes of FA you did so far?

Good luck to you, CaliAtenza, and everybody!

Funny enough, I'd say there's never a guarantee of breaking 260.

There was someone last year who had two 270+ NBME exams and only got a 259 on the real deal. And he's exceedingly brilliant to say the least.

If you're scoring in the 260s on the NBMEs, then you're aware of how just a few minutiae questions / silly errors can significantly influence your score in both directions.

When you have a few alcoholic beverages after the real deal, you'll have one of those silent moments of clarity where you'll know exactly how well you did.

 

[stronghold]

Funny enough, I'd say there's never a guarantee of breaking 260.

There was someone last year who had two 270+ NBME exams and only got a 259 on the real deal. And he's exceedingly brilliant to say the least.

If you're scoring in the 260s on the NBMEs, then you're aware of how just a few minutiae questions / silly errors can influence your score in both directions.

When you have your first alcoholic beverage after the real deal, you'll have one of those moments of clarity where you'll know exactly how well you did.

Come on boss. We know that there is no 100% guarantee. But his odds are very high to get > 260- assuming he keeps the same performance and avoid silly mistakes.
Yes, I know that guy you are referring to. He finally broke 260 barrier in step 2 CK I guess he is unusual case. Since his NBMEs in CK were very high (If I remember well, one of them was in 280s!). So probably his performance is different in the real deal

 

[Modeselektor]

If you're scoring in the 260s on the NBMEs, then you're aware of how just a few minutiae questions / silly errors can significantly influence your score in both directions.

.

This is the truth behind the USMLE.

You can get to 250 with effort.
After that its a lot of luck. Each mark becomes exponentially important.

 

[Modeselektor]

That's when error management, sleep and "wtf question" management come into play too haha.

I came into this thing with people laughing If I'd be able to pass. I was surprised I broke 230 on anything. I'm just gonna gun it and go for the top.

 

[CaliAtenza]

Ugh. Did awful on uwsa 1..dunno what went wrong... I think the exam hit all my weak points... I'm going to change my date and reevaluate

 

[Phloston]

Come on boss. We know that there is no 100% guarantee. But his odds are very high to get > 260- assuming he keeps the same performance and avoid silly mistakes.
Yes, I know that guy you are referring to. He finally broke 260 barrier in step 2 CK I guess he is unusual case. Since his NBMEs in CK were very high (If I remember well, one of them was in 280s!). So probably his performance is different in the real deal

You'd have to literally get a hundred (or one wrong) to hit that.

 

[Modeselektor]

Ugh. Did awful on uwsa 1..dunno what went wrong... I think the exam hit all my weak points... I'm going to change my date and reevaluate

You know whats best man. Use this as fuel. You have limitless potential. Don't doubt it.

 

[ninjasurgeron]

Developing country.

I did like one of the goljan lectures. They're probably good, but I just never got around to them haha. Yeah I started FA well back during 2nd year, mostly read it and crammed w/e extra material I needed to before class tests (if i felt like it). There's a pretty sweet anki file out there that has the gist of FA in it. https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2374623780

I had anki synced with my phone so I could hammer out revisions throughout the day too.

The main thing I did was qbanks. I read a post on here by someone named maryjane85 and followed their advice on doing 4 qbanks (rapid review patho was a load of crap tho, wish I hadn't done it) and only annotating ~ one line per question and knowing that well. (sometimes this line was like: READ ALL THE ****ING OPTIONS or READ WHATEVER OPTION YOU PICK BACK TO YOU ) Once again take whatever I say with grain of salt and spoonful of hot sauce cause i'm one guy and I haven't written it just yet.

Have you checked out the SlyFaux deck too? https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/3564661858

 

[Doctosanthewan]

About to grind out NBME 15... lets see how this goes..

 

[voicesinmyhead]

ninjasurgeron: Have you checked out the SlyFaux deck too? https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/3564661858

Both anki decks (the Slyfaux one as well as the one modeselector said) seem pretty gr8 to me.

Slyfaux is larger by 40 mb and around 700 notes. Does that mean its better?

Going through both would be blatant overkill.

Which one would you suggest?

 

[CaliAtenza]

You know whats best man. Use this as fuel. You have limitless potential. Don't doubt it.

all the mollecular biology, genetics and behavioral science stuff pissed me off (i am really weak in this stuff) and also the test was really weird; a lot of the questions were twisted around and stuff. I honestly think i hit the jackpot on NBME 15, but UWSA1 really took me down a peg or two . What do you recommend for genetics and mollecular biology? I have the kaplan notes, i'll go through that again..

 

[ninjasurgeron]

Both anki decks (the Slyfaux one as well as the one modeselector said) seem pretty gr8 to me.

Slyfaux is larger by 40 mb and around 700 notes. Does that mean its better?

Going through both would be blatant overkill.

Which one would you suggest?

I have downloaded both but have never used either. It might not be applicable to you as we have different timeframes but I try to make my own based on the curriculum of my school. I think Dr. Willbe has a deck out too and he recommends making your own as that is part of the learning process.

I think SlyFaux was updated recently so I would go with that one if I have to choose.

Disclaimer: I haven't taken Step 1 and we probably have different study styles.

 

[Doctosanthewan]

Just did NBME 15. Must say I found it pretty challenging, a lot of wtf weird questions and felt like I was getting owned the whole way through.. but somehow pulled through with a 261...
+11 points since my last NBME 11 days ago, so feel like I'm peaking at about the right time... just hate that feeling of not knowing how well you did. That 3 week wait is going to be torture..

 

[stronghold]

You'd have to literally get a hundred (or one wrong) to hit that.

I know it's extraordinary. If you check the last 20, or so, pages of CK experience thread, you will find few people mentioned that they managed to get > 280 in one of the NBMEs of CK.

 

[Ryan71]

all the mollecular biology, genetics and behavioral science stuff pissed me off (i am really weak in this stuff) and also the test was really weird; a lot of the questions were twisted around and stuff. I honestly think i hit the jackpot on NBME 15, but UWSA1 really took me down a peg or two . What do you recommend for genetics and mollecular biology? I have the kaplan notes, i'll go through that again..

I feel like molecular bio is luck of the draw on the real thing. I had like 1 or 2 questions that were i think molecular bio/biochem type questions that were straight up WTF IS THIS never seen or heard of this before.

 

[Modeselektor]

Both anki decks (the Slyfaux one as well as the one modeselector said) seem pretty gr8 to me.

Slyfaux is larger by 40 mb and around 700 notes. Does that mean its better?

Going through both would be blatant overkill.

Which one would you suggest?

It wouldn't really matter which deck you go with:
1) they won't be "complete"
2) they are to make your passes of FA easier.
3) anki has a few issues

Being someone who has used anki for almost 2 years, i can tell you there are inherent problems, not the least of which is anki purgatory, where the amount of daily reviews becomes crushing and the fatigue leads to greater error rates → greater next day reviews → even higher error rates. Another is that you don't get the clumping effect you get from reading a book, or that "it was there on that page under the kidney" memory either. The last and my least favorite is the "island fact" phenomenon, which became apparent on my initial run with qbanks. Where you intuitively know the answer is C, but only because you "feel" its the answer. Even when you memorize a book you have a visual cue and a ordering cue (acetazolamide is after mannitol, side effects/contraindications are after clinical uses). These are things anki doesn't provide.

I used anki only as a means of making FA easier to deal with, to put facts into my head, so that when I went to read FA I could glue them all together. After I used it for blatant lists/rapid review and things I have trouble remembering.

Its a great tool used wisely, but its not a magic pill. It doesn't facilitate the "Systems thinking" knowledge I've seen the qbanks require. (my 2 cents)

 

[voicesinmyhead]

It wouldn't really matter which deck you go with:
1) they won't be "complete"
2) they are to make your passes of FA easier.
3) anki has a few issues

Being someone who has used anki for almost 2 years, i can tell you there are inherent problems, not the least of which is anki purgatory, where the amount of daily reviews becomes crushing and the fatigue leads to greater error rates → greater next day reviews → even higher error rates. Another is that you don't get the clumping effect you get from reading a book, or that "it was there on that page under the kidney" memory either. The last and my least favorite is the "island fact" phenomenon, which became apparent on my initial run with qbanks. Where you intuitively know the answer is C, but only because you "feel" its the answer. Even when you memorize a book you have a visual cue and a ordering cue (acetazolamide is after mannitol, side effects/contraindications are after clinical uses). These are things anki doesn't provide.

I used anki only as a means of making FA easier to deal with, to put facts into my head, so that when I went to read FA I could glue them all together. After I used it for blatant lists/rapid review and things I have trouble remembering.

Its a great tool used wisely, but its not a magic pill. It doesn't facilitate the "Systems thinking" knowledge I've seen the qbanks require. (my 2 cents)

Thanks ninjasurgeron and modeselektor.

Awesome 2 cents this!

I always thought the reason why Firecracker was popular was because it somehow improves your intuition of the right answer in someway.
And you believe studying from a book improves your intuition better than the anki system?

maybe i should try and see what works for me, as fast as i can.

 

[Modeselektor]

Intuition is good and you will get that from anki. But I like to place 2-3 extra facts behind each point I know.

I want to know why its the right answer when I pick it, not just that it is, if you know what I mean. It should fit in the system better than the other options.

8 days out. About to start my last cover to cover of FA. Began doing what unused UWorld blocks I have in "35min limit and no checking" mode. Got 96 and 93%. Got two more NBMEs I'll prolly do back to back on Sat. I'll see you guys after its done and let you know how it was. Take care everyone and don't listen to anyone saying there's a limit. **** that noise and use it as motivation to excel in spite.

 

[voicesinmyhead]

Thanks man.

Can i ask your opinion about anki settings which i cant make any sense of.

i intend to delete half of the cards i review that day, while i review them. (stuff i feel i know already).

I plan to hopefully do around 250 cards a day.

Just give me a good setting to use and i'll trust you You need not tell me what these are.

Forgive me if im being too lazy here, but i googled to no avail and the whole minimalistic theme is kinda getting on my nerves in a weird way.

 

[thehundredthone]

When you have a few alcoholic beverages after the real deal, you'll have one of those silent moments of clarity where you'll know exactly how well you did.

Why didn't you say this before, at least it would've been less of a disappointment then.

Yes, I know that guy you are referring to. He finally broke 260 barrier in step 2 CK I guess he is unusual case. Since his NBMEs in CK were very high (If I remember well, one of them was in 280s!). So probably his performance is different in the real deal

I feel bad for the guy, if he really had 280s on the NBMEs and then scored in the 260s. My practice tests overpredicted by only 10 points luckily(?).

What this does tell you though, is that there's always plenty of room for improvement, and so I hope all of your prospective test takers get only 240s/250s on your NBMEs and then score 10+ points higher on the real thing.

 

[stronghold]

I just want to know what people mean when they say Kaplan Qbank is great in moleciolar biology and we need to focus on them in the real deal? KQbank has only 30 questions of molecular biology. Is this what you mean or I need to add the Genetics section too?

 

[ninjasurgeron]

I have a question on Big Robbin's vs Pathoma. Would it be more efficient to go through Pathoma compared to reading Big Robbin's?

The following is the situation I'm in.
1. I love reading Big Robbin's.
2. I don't mind the time spent reading Big Robbin's.
3. I just don't know if the time spent reading Big Robbin's is well allocated in regards to Patho in Step 1.
4. I also read the lecture notes that is pulled from the professor's slides + lecture + snippets from Big Robbins.

Should I just stick to Pathoma + lecture notes? If I go with this, I have more time to spend in other subjects.

 

[Bojack Horseman]

I have a question on Big Robbin's vs Pathoma. Would it be more efficient to go through Pathoma compared to reading Big Robbin's?

The following is the situation I'm in.
1. I love reading Big Robbin's.
2. I don't mind the time spent reading Big Robbin's.
3. I just don't know if the time spent reading Big Robbin's is well allocated in regards to Patho in Step 1.
4. I also read the lecture notes that is pulled from the professor's slides + lecture + snippets from Big Robbins.

Should I just stick to Pathoma + lecture notes? If I go with this, I have more time to spend in other subjects.

IMO: For class, reading big Robbins isn't a bad way to go. If you like it and learn from it, just do it. However, the closer you get to your dedicated prep time, it's not a good way to utilize your time. Too dense with too much extraneous information. Path isn't the only subject on step1.