Official 2013 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Phloston

Phloston

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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:
 
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I actually thought RF was more specific than anti-CCP. Just checked PubMed and I was wrong. Sorry about that. And just for the record, missing big picture concepts is my forte. That's why I only got a 262 and not a 270.
 
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Aside from uworld/kaplan, is it necessary to go through other sources for molecular bio/cell bio? Just wondering csus I keep hearing how some people get crazy questions and that even nbme 13 has alot of molecular on it?
 
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need to buckle down harder or something...took uwsa 2 early this morning...got a 240...so guess somewhere between 225 - 230, correct? can't believe this is happening right now...🙁

my performance; avg performance
block 1 - 74% ; 66%
block 2 - 83%; 65%
block 3 - 52%; 60% - thought this block was really tough
block 4 - 74%; 64%

OpWhXqG.png
 
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tarsuc said:
damn i hate immuno too. good luck. try revising those below borderline specifically.
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hey thanks for the post and concern...yeah i had sent phlo a PM a while back stating how i can't force myself to do immuno/micro or pharm. i had studied those classes so hard and did well during the courses, my brain intuitively feels it doesnt need to review it...but performance charts speak otherwise...

it's the last 3 topics i need to review, but i half-ass it whenever i study it...i know i'd jump a good 10-15 points if i sat down, and actually put the time into the subjects, as I did with biochem and neuro...
 
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Jonari said:
need to buckle down harder or something...took uwsa 2 early this morning...got a 240...so guess somewhere between 225 - 230, correct? can't believe this is happening right now...🙁

my performance; avg performance
block 1 - 74% ; 66%
block 2 - 83%; 65%
block 3 - 52%; 60% - thought this block was really tough
block 4 - 74%; 64%

OpWhXqG.png
Click to expand...

what about silly mistakes? Did you fix that?
 
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Jonari said:
hey thanks for the post and concern...yeah i had sent phlo a PM a while back stating how i can't force myself to do immuno/micro or pharm. i had studied those classes so hard and did well during the courses, my brain intuitively feels it doesnt need to review it...but performance charts speak otherwise...

it's the last 3 topics i need to review, but i half-ass it whenever i study it...i know i'd jump a good 10-15 points if i sat down, and actually put the time into the subjects, as I did with biochem and neuro...
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you got this man, just force yourself through it. if reading it alone is too annoying (trust me i know how that feels), set your uworld to sets of questions from just those topics and read those and read FA with it, that will get you through them.

micro i think just takes repetition, its def not my strongest subject, but i do okay on it now just from doing questions over the past few months. i sucked at it when we had class because i hate memorizing things and never studied it hard, but it can def be done. just make quick mnemonics for things (i tink nick naylor posted some good ones for the viruses) and as long as you can categorize things i think you can think your way through alot
 
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Zzmed said:
what about silly mistakes? Did you fix that?
Click to expand...

thats whats making me the most upset - i did...i finished each block roughly at the 25-27 minute mark...went through the blocks twice...found some silly mistakes..scroll down and highlight what i fixed...don't want to type it up incase others haven't taken uwsa2.

i did significantly worse on uwsa1, but took it lightly and didn't care too much about it. i found block 3 of uwsa2 to be extremely challenging, compared to the other blocks; but oh well, just need to keep pushing forward.

i definitely don't think I've peaked yet. sucks, because all i have left to gauge my performance is nbme 15. wish another exam was available. 😳
























**spoilers of uwsa2 - highlight the text to read what i fixed & some silly mistakes**

- there was a question asking about leucine and how it's the 7th aa in this structure. had transmembrane since it's a hydrophobic aa, but reading the question again it said it had to do with the nucleus - changed it to nuclear-binding
- question asked about bacteria methylates the 23S portion of the 50S ribosomal subunit...had something else written down, but changed it to erythromycin
but some silly mistakes included:
- writing iris, instead of cornea for wilson's disease
- writing 32, instead of 16 for the standard deviation question
 
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suji0 said:
you got this man, just force yourself through it. if reading it alone is too annoying (trust me i know how that feels), set your uworld to sets of questions from just those topics and read those and read FA with it, that will get you through them.

micro i think just takes repetition, its def not my strongest subject, but i do okay on it now just from doing questions over the past few months. i sucked at it when we had class because i hate memorizing things and never studied it hard, but it can def be done. just make quick mnemonics for things (i tink nick naylor posted some good ones for the viruses) and as long as you can categorize things i think you can think your way through alot
Click to expand...

hey thanks for the post & concern - yeah just need to buckle down. i think seeing the mistakes in micro and some of them in pharm, made me realize that this is hindering me from getting a competitive score.
 
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What do you think is behind the variability in your behavioral sciences section? I know that it can be the proverbial crap shoot in terms of what you will see. But there are certain underlying principles which can at least make some answer choices inherently correct or incorrect.

ADDITION: And as a word of encouragement, UWSAs may "overpredict" but your ability to answer a high percentage of tough UW questions (3 out of 4 blocks at least) is solid sign. I mean you were almost 20 percentage point above the mean in block 2! Outliers (block 3) aside I would say that you should feel decent about your performance.
 
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Goober11 said:
What do you think is behind the variability in your behavioral sciences section? I know that it can be the proverbial crap shoot in terms of what you will see. But there are certain underlying principles which can at least make some answer choices inherently correct or incorrect.

ADDITION: And as a word of encouragement, UWSAs may "overpredict" but your ability to answer a high percentage of tough UW questions (3 out of 4 blocks at least) is solid sign. I mean you were almost 20 percentage point above the mean in block 2! Outliers (block 3) aside I would say that you should feel decent about your performance.
Click to expand...

thanks for the response, honestly i have no clue behind the inconsistency of behavioral sciences - maybe English as a 2nd language, lol? that's just a cop out, i've been living in the US since '88, so i know it can't be that.

honestly, no idea. maybe it being taught poorly at the school that i went to, perhaps? i know that BS also factors in biostats, so i need to work on that. my goal is not to get any of the BS questions wrong, i feel those are free points - but with my performance, who knows.

yeah, thanks for the words of encouragement for the UWSA 2. guess taking exams at 4am to just before the sun coming up yields good results.
 
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step1april2013 said:
Your gonna be fine. Get a good night's sleep, so that you can be operating at 3 sigmas and get your 240. You will make us proud!
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yeah, just praying that when i take nbme 15...ill break a 240. feel so close, which is what i hate. if i was getting in the 200 - 205s, and was shooting for a 240 with the amount of time left - that's a bit of a stretch.

however, my scores are just due to silly mistakes and a small lack of weak foundation in certain topics (ie molecular techniques - pcr, blots, analyzing blots, rflps, etc etc.) i know i'm capable of breaking a 245, just need to do it. i'd be more upset if i got a 239, compared to a 230 or so on my exam.
 
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Pholston and others. Is there an expected jump from the CBSE NBME exam administered at some schools towards the end of the year?
 
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Sorry if this has been asked before, but I haven't been able to find it through a search.
How do I convert my offline NBME scores from %correct to any sort of scaled score?
 
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Can you guys give me a rough idea about what test week should look like? I plan on completing 2nd pass of Uworld incorrects exactly 3-5 days before my exam.

I have planned for the week:
3-5 days before:
pharm flash cards
redraw pathways I have targeted
association flashcards
look over couple problem areas quickly

1day before: do nothing but play soccer and maybe go see a movie.

Am I planning this correctly?????
 
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JP2740 said:
Pholston and others. Is there an expected jump from the CBSE NBME exam administered at some schools towards the end of the year?
Click to expand...

tiedyeddog said:
I was wondering the same thing?? I got a 195 on mine, before any studying or than some micro. I am take UWSA 1 in three days, I hope there is a decent increase there. :luck:
Click to expand...


I don't think you can/should make a solid correlation - just use it to guide some weak points and for motivation
 
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tiedyeddog said:
Can you guys give me a rough idea about what test week should look like? I plan on completing 2nd pass of Uworld incorrects exactly 3-5 days before my exam.

I have planned for the week:
3-5 days before:
pharm flash cards
redraw pathways I have targeted
association flashcards
look over couple problem areas quickly

1day before: do nothing but play soccer and maybe go see a movie.

Am I planning this correctly?????
Click to expand...
Be strong
 
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fleshwound said:
Sorry if this has been asked before, but I haven't been able to find it through a search.
How do I convert my offline NBME scores from %correct to any sort of scaled score?
Click to expand...

There are some percent-to-3 digit correlators out there but the tests are rescaled from time to time. Someone with my same NBME 11 raw percentage a year or so ago had a different three digit score. That being said your best bet is to post the number you got wrong on the NBME's "discussion thread" and hope someone with a similar raw percentage as you (and took it online) will post their three digit score.
 
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Jonari said:
give me your input from my posting a few posts up...👍😍

edit: no homo
Click to expand...

Haha, at this point you know more than anyone else where you're at, and where you're capable of going (a few days out). There's not much else to advise or say. You're ready to get it done.

The only thing that I can see having a significant impact at THIS stage, is your sleep going into the exam. Its more important than ANYTHING else you do in the last 2-3 days, IMO. Eliminate the exhaustion factor and you'll reap the hard work you've put in and be able to get extra questions right through sound logic. [Or let lack of sleep be a factor, and not only will you lose the multi-level logic Qs you'll botch the easier things you DO know.]
 
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CDI said:
Haha, at this point you know more than anyone else where you're at, and where you're capable of going (a few days out). There's not much else to advise or say. You're ready to get it done.

The only thing that I can see having a significant impact at THIS stage, is your sleep going into the exam. Its more important than ANYTHING else you do in the last 2-3 days, IMO. Eliminate the exhaustion factor and you'll reap the hard work you've put in and be able to get extra questions right through sound logic. [Or let lack of sleep be a factor, and not only will you lose the multi-level logic Qs you'll botch the easier things you DO know.]
Click to expand...

yeah, should be back on track today. i can feel the frustration while doing rx questions...no idea why im getting frustrated by these questions...probably cause im so used to the way the questions are asked on uworld...just different when i do rx, and i hate their interface.
 
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CDI said:
I think for most 40-50 points is a solid target. On average the jump seems closer to 30-40 though.
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That would be a great jump. I was at about 208 in March on CBSE (73) I took NBME 6 prior to the study period (because I was skeptical about how accurate the school administered CBSE was) and get essentially the same score. I have noticed by Uworld averages have started to stabilize as I'm about halfway through a very thorough pass of FA (its taking me forever).

If I can go up 30-50 points from my CBSE I'd be happy regardless of it being 30 or 50.


Actually I'll be happy after this test is over regardless because I'll be in Vegas....
 
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normtheniner said:
That would be a great jump. I was at about 208 in March on CBSE (73) I took NBME 6 prior to the study period (because I was skeptical about how accurate the school administered CBSE was) and get essentially the same score. I have noticed by Uworld averages have started to stabilize as I'm about halfway through a very thorough pass of FA (its taking me forever).

If I can go up 30-50 points from my CBSE I'd be happy regardless of it being 30 or 50.


Actually I'll be happy after this test is over regardless because I'll be in Vegas....
Click to expand...

Its about right, but it also depends on the time you can put into it and when you're taking it.

I'm 4 years out from my pre-clinicals, so I had forgot a lot (felt like everything), my baseline was a 168 when I began, wound up with a 217. Not saying its a good score, just saying it depends where you begin.

If you're lower on the spectrum, and just hit FA, you'll show a greater jump than someone who's starting at a 220 and trying to hit a 260. Reason being the methods available for the average student to get up to the 220 level are much easier/more reliable than the methods available to hit a 260.
 
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CDI said:
Its about right, but it also depends on the time you can put into it and when you're taking it.

I'm 4 years out from my pre-clinicals, so I had forgot a lot (felt like everything), my baseline was a 168 when I began, wound up with a 217. Not saying its a good score, just saying it depends where you begin.

If you're lower on the spectrum, and just hit FA, you'll show a greater jump than someone who's starting at a 220 and trying to hit a 260. Reason being the methods available for the average student to get up to the 220 level are much easier/more reliable than the methods available to hit a 260.
Click to expand...

My goal is 240+ (although I'd still be happy if I fall a little short of that). I only have 5 weeks to really improve. The only real board studying I had done is the cumulative pharmacology exam we had at the end of April. I had to go back and review everything in pharmacology we had done since August, so I think that gave me a good start and has saved me a lot of time because I really have to put minimal time into pharmacology (its way overtaught here). Other than that,I'm in the same boat as the rest of my class with the time constraints.

FWIW, our class CBSE average was like a 185 I think and typically the step score overall ends up being an avg of ~227-230 (thats what its ranged over the last 3-4 years)
 
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Talked to the admin here at my school, it looks like at my school over the year the average increase has been ~35 points from CBSA -> Step 1.
 
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Quick question; sorry if it's already been asked -- I'm on my phone and the SDN app's search function is pretty awful.

Is the level of detail for micro and pharm in FA more than enough? I'm trying to decide whether to go through my Kaplan pharm notes again (which are pretty extensive).

Thanks!
 
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Kaushik said:
Quick question; sorry if it's already been asked -- I'm on my phone and the SDN app's search function is pretty awful.

Is the level of detail for micro and pharm in FA more than enough? I'm trying to decide whether to go through my Kaplan pharm notes again (which are pretty extensive).

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Micro section in FA is really good - with that said, I think a bit of background is helpful. Only if you know the FA section cold - if you don't know it cold then no sense in any background.
 
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tiedyeddog said:
That's awesome news, considering if that is "average" I bet 40-50 is way possible with some work over the "average".

we're gonna do it, dude. keep working.
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Lol hell ya. In a weird way during this period I have more contact with human life with you guys than anyone else. **** we have to go through. Let's all come back with sick scores dudes
 
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👎
Phloston said:
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:
Click to expand...
 
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This is for a friend of mine, but--- is it better to save UWorld til the dedicated study period or would it be better to start doing UWorld during MS2 along with classes?
 
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JP2740 said:
Lol hell ya. In a weird way during this period I have more contact with human life with you guys than anyone else. **** we have to go through. Let's all come back with sick scores dudes
Click to expand...

After 2 weeks of studying like this I am finding it hard to converse with normal people, haha. I think my mind is getting fried.
 
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tiedyeddog said:
100% save it for the dedicated period, use USMLErx or Kaplan during the school year.
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@addy

This certainly is great advice that many people will agree with and practice themselves. I am doing something a little different though.

The final 6 weeks of school, after I finished Rx, I did UW random timed and finished before dedicated started. I learned a great deal about my strengths and weakness by doing UW the first time before dedicated which as allowed me to use these first couple weeks of my study period to nail down my weakness with Kaplan before my second pass of UW.

I want to emphasize that saving UW until dedicated after doing Kaplan and or Rx is excellent advice. I just wanted to briefly share my experience and the opportunity it has given me to step back and see what I really know and what I needed to grind out.
 
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Hi, I was wondering if anybody could post the averages for each block in UWSA1. I know the UWORLD blocks are around 60% and I'm just trying to compare the difficulty of UWORLD to UWSA1, which I won't be taking for another week or so.
 
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tiedyeddog said:
After 2 weeks of studying like this I am finding it hard to converse with normal people, haha. I think my mind is getting fried.
Click to expand...

That actually happened to me during a stretch of year 2. I only have a couple med school friends, so I finally had some time off, yea! hang out with the bros. I swear to god I didn't appreciate how much practice is required to have decent social skills. I just hadn't socialized in so long I ****ing didn't know what I was doing.
 
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