Official 2013 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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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:
 
Just wanted to echo the importance of FA and UW. These are the only 2 resources I used to study. Anything more would have driven me nuts. I went through UW and annotated my FA with anything I didn't know in the explanations. I don't recall the % correct I had on UW (only did one pass) but I think it was in the mid to high 70s. I did fairly well 1st and 2nd year and studied very hard for 5-6 weeks before the exam. Ended up with a 257.

When did you take the exam?
 
Just wanted to echo the importance of FA and UW. These are the only 2 resources I used to study. Anything more would have driven me nuts. I went through UW and annotated my FA with anything I didn't know in the explanations. I don't recall the % correct I had on UW (only did one pass) but I think it was in the mid to high 70s. I did fairly well 1st and 2nd year and studied very hard for 5-6 weeks before the exam. Ended up with a 257.

Did you do any NBMEs or UWSA? How were you scoring in those?
 
when do you guys start doing question banks? I'm only half way through the material so I feel like it would be a waste for me to start doing questions. I plan on doing First aid RX and Uworld

would you guys recommend me going through a particular subject and then doing first aid rx questions just related to that topic? and then when I've exhausted first aid rx and finished covering all the material, I'll start doing Uworld?
 
To be fair, I read through about 1/2 of it before my final 5-6 weeks of study. Otherwise, I read through most of it just once. But when I did I really digested the material. It might have taken 2-3 days to digest a tough section such as neuro.
 
when do you guys start doing question banks? I'm only half way through the material so I feel like it would be a waste for me to start doing questions. I plan on doing First aid RX and Uworld

would you guys recommend me going through a particular subject and then doing first aid rx questions just related to that topic? and then when I've exhausted first aid rx and finished covering all the material, I'll start doing Uworld?

Get through your first cover-to-cover pass of FA before you start Rx. Just muscle it out at 3 wks x 8-12 hrs/day (whatever pace is good for you; some people say they read FA in 3 days, but that's not really reading). After you finish FA, go through the USMLE Rx. The combination of those two resources (excluding UWorld and Kaplan) will get you to high-230s, or just nicking 240.

Questions need to be used as reinforcement. If you're doing them but haven't seen the baseline material before (i.e. FA), you're not optimizing.
 
Hi guys!!!

I've finally done it!

I was astonished by the level of security and organization that these centers have! Luckily I left my gun at home ; )

Jokes aside, the exam was tough and I really couldn't say for sure how it went... Really hope well though : )

I thought the exam was pretty balanced I all subjects expect psych and musculoskeletal which were rather absent except for the standard nerve injury questions.
This is what it came up (as much as I remember because I have the memory of lizard : )
Anatomy: mainly limbs, pelvis and abdomen. They had a very weird question on penile blocks which I had never seen done so i got that wrong (dorsal penis n. I think). Quite a few CTs and XRs, and brain dissections.
Biochemistry: started as my weakest subject but I think that once you know FA very well, you are sorted. Lots of pedigree, glycogen and other metabolic disease qs. Not so much on reactions.
Physiology: they asked quite a bit about endocrine pathways, especially prolactin. Also lots on respiratory (eg spirometry). Some very difficult graphs on contractility of the GI tract and something CV related (sorry I can't remember) but things that you really can't prepare for unless you have worked in a physiology lab : ) I thought UW helped me a lot in this section.
Pathology: this was mixed with almost everything and similar in style to UW. Histology slides were quite challenging. Goljan and FA were great. So much of it in the exam, so def I would put extra effort in it.
Microbiology: FA was enough. Mainly bacterial and viral infections.
Pharmacology: I was so concerned about it but actually it turned out to be alright. Side effects and interactions. Quite a few qs on competitive/non-competitive antagonists.
Embryology: pretty inexistent.

All in all I thought it was very hard but I'm really hoping for the best!

I can't thank you all enough. Big thanks especially to Phloston! This discussion board has been truly amazing and super useful!
 
Roughly one week to go.

Took NBME 12 today and got 257. USW #2 took it last week and got 262. NBME's may be easier, but you will need a 95%+ apparently to break the 260 mark, whereas in USW you need 80%.

This whole thing is draining life out of me, mainly because I'm doing the exam right in the middle of my OB-GYN rotation, which is kind of crazy, but I don't have many options. And I have my oral exam for the rotation tomorrow...
 
Roughly one week to go.

Took NBME 12 today and got 257. USW #2 took it last week and got 262. NBME's may be easier, but you will need a 95%+ apparently to break the 260 mark, whereas in USW you need 80%.

This whole thing is draining life out of me, mainly because I'm doing the exam right in the middle of my OB-GYN rotation, which is kind of crazy, but I don't have many options. And I have my oral exam for the rotation tomorrow...

Solid NBME score. Do you mind sharing your resources?
 
To Phloston and other good guys: how you make screenshots from UW? Phloston once said that he made a powerpoint slideshow from UW, but I don't know how you guys can do it?
 
Get yourself a cheap camera and capture every slide as you go through UW. I am not sure about copyright issues but as long as you dont distribute it to third parties then you wont have any problem.
 
Solid NBME score. Do you mind sharing your resources?

Nothing out of the ordinary. First Aid, Goljan, USMLE World mainly. Done Kaplan QBank a while ago. I went over a few other sources, but I don't think I have retained anything of them. IMO cover the main sources and you should be looking at least at 255+. (And I still haven't really managed yet to nail First Aid and USMLE World).

BTW, I don't agree with the opinion NBME's are easier than USMLE World. Yes, the format of the question is easier, but the mere fact that it only takes a couple of tricky questions and another couple of silly mistakes over 200 questions to drive your score into the 250s makes them MUCH harder, especially in terms of anxiety. That's what matters after all. Thank God people are reporting the real thing is more like UWorld.
 
Thanks a lot guys!! Regarding NBME, I heard that you can only see the wrong questions? What about the other ones? Then what is the benefit of the extended feedback?
My exam will be late August
 
Does anyone know the policy on eating during the NBME? I have reactive hypoglycemia so I have to eat small meals every 2-3 hours and I just realized that might be a problem with time and even being able to get access to my food each break. Any advice?
 
Thanks a lot guys!! Regarding NBME, I heard that you can only see the wrong questions? What about the other ones? Then what is the benefit of the extended feedback?
My exam will be late August

I would also be interested in the answer to this.
Whats the difference b/w regular and extended feedback?
 
I would also be interested in the answer to this.
Whats the difference b/w regular and extended feedback?

With extended feedback, you can only see your score and the questions you got wrong so you can learn from them.

With regular, you cant see anything. You just get your score.
 
Get through your first cover-to-cover pass of FA before you start Rx. Just muscle it out at 3 wks x 8-12 hrs/day (whatever pace is good for you; some people say they read FA in 3 days, but that's not really reading). After you finish FA, go through the USMLE Rx. The combination of those two resources (excluding UWorld and Kaplan) will get you to high-230s, or just nicking 240.

Questions need to be used as reinforcement. If you're doing them but haven't seen the baseline material before (i.e. FA), you're not optimizing.

thanks! I'll try and do just that
 
With extended feedback, you can only see your score and the questions you got wrong so you can learn from them.

With regular, you cant see anything. You just get your score.


Ohh hmm

Get all the questions wrong....have all the questions....🙄
 
Ohh hmm

Get all the questions wrong....have all the questions....🙄

I wouldn't recommend that because it teaches you test taking skills and helps develops stamina for the real deal . I would recommend purposely picking wrong answer on select few questions you have absolutely no clue about because you don't want to guess them right.
 
I wouldn't recommend that because it teaches you test taking skills and helps develops stamina for the real deal . I would recommend purposely picking wrong answer on select few questions you have absolutely no clue about because you don't want to guess them right.

That's equally as bad an idea.
 
Then what to do? if even extended feedback does not show the right answers, then what is the benefit of that extended feedback?
 
I wouldn't recommend that because it teaches you test taking skills and helps develops stamina for the real deal . I would recommend purposely picking wrong answer on select few questions you have absolutely no clue about because you don't want to guess them right.



Of course I was just kidding. I plan on using UW more as a learning tool (ie, organ-specific blocks and not on random), and then use the NBMEs to help fine-tune my timing and gain experience with random questions.

I also agree with CDI that you should take the NBME and try to get as many right as you can, because although some argue it, they tend to be solid score predictors and are great to gauge progress.
Also, phloston's made a good point that the questions you tend to miss on the NBMEs are the same type of questions you miss on the real deal (unless you try and figure out why you get them wrong?)
 
since NBMEs are timed, simulating real test, then how we can take screenshots, save them....etc? You only have one minute or so for each question so how you can do it?
 
I took the exam in May 2012, right after they made the switch to the new questions or whatever they did.

Did you do any NBMEs or UWSA? How were you scoring in those?

I did about 4 NBMEs. I never did any UWSA. My scores on the NBMEs ranged somewhere from 235-252. I think 252 was the most recent NBME but I also hadn't reviewed certain topics in FA at that point such as neuro or good portions of micro. Those took place between the last NBME and the actual exam.
 
Does anyone know the policy on eating during the NBME? I have reactive hypoglycemia so I have to eat small meals every 2-3 hours and I just realized that might be a problem with time and even being able to get access to my food each break. Any advice?

I'd call the testing center to see what they say. I never had any problems getting food during my breaks. I felt like I had so much time that I think I ended up with 10-15 minutes of unused break time by the end of the exam.
 
When do they change the pool of questions? And will that change really have a huge effect on the potential score? B/C it seemed last year people's scores on the actual test during that time period was still predictable from nbmes...
 
since NBMEs are timed, simulating the real test, then how we can take screenshots, save them....etc? You only have one minute or so for each question so how you can do it?
 
Agree about NBME tests. They were pretty good predictors for me when I took Step 1. Highly recommend UW and FA, plus Goljan. Thats the perfect recipe.
 
I'm doing my incorrects only pass of UW now. Getting about 55-60% of those right this time, and still learning. Exams in couple weeks. Dragging a bit, but trying to power through.

I'm re-phrasing and typing up the now incorrect educational objectives and any concepts I feel I need to learn better. Forces me to think through the material on the spot and I'll have seen it the 2nd time. I'll have a few days left before my exam, and will run through those incorrect UW notes during that time to force me to think it over a 3rd time but it would already be deciphered this go around.
 
So I just took the USMLErx 4 hour simulated exam and got a predicted score of 242. I am wondering how accurate it is. Rx doesn't have a lot of feedback on score correlations but on 2 blocks I got 75% correct and on the other 2 73%. It would be a nice improvement from my last NBME though. I am 42 days out now and am wanting to get above 240 so if this score is valid I am happy. Has anyone tried Rx simulated exams?
 
I haven't tried the simulated exam yet but, I have a full one waiting for me to take though. I will probably try closer to the end of my school year (May). I really appreciate you sharing yours so I will throw mine up when the time comes.
 
is there an "xyz+ score" thread? i think they had that in the MCAT subforum, where everyone who got 32 or 35+ would post their tips. that way you just get advice from people who took the exam and got what you wanna get. this current thread is also good though, especially for advice from people that are currently studying. i think like a 250+ thread would be cool.

Just search for Pollux or Phloston. They covered the main ways to prep for this in detail. It's mostly all just versions of those guides.
 
So I just took the USMLErx 4 hour simulated exam and got a predicted score of 242. I am wondering how accurate it is. Rx doesn't have a lot of feedback on score correlations but on 2 blocks I got 75% correct and on the other 2 73%. It would be a nice improvement from my last NBME though. I am 42 days out now and am wanting to get above 240 so if this score is valid I am happy. Has anyone tried Rx simulated exams?

I think Rx overpredicts? At least thats what I've read...

You have over a month anyways. You can do serious work in that time and could def break 240 with your progress so far.
 
To Phloston and other good guys: how you make screenshots from UW? Phloston once said that he made a powerpoint slideshow from UW, but I don't know how you guys can do it?

I never said that. I have no idea how to PrntScr UWorld. I made a Powerpoint of my incorrect NBME questions.
 
since NBMEs are timed, simulating the real test, then how we can take screenshots, save them....etc? You only have one minute or so for each question so how you can do it?

Extended feedback.

PrntScr and crop them at the end of the exam.

If you're using offline exams or NBME5 (no EF available), figure out which ones are wrong, then do the same as above.

--------------

I should just point out that going through your old NBME questions when approaching the real deal will be unequivocally beneficial.

I had had 252 and 254 on NBMEs 6+7 at 12 and 11 days-out, respectively. Then I went back through my old NBME questions from forms 1-5 from my Powerpoint, as well as the incorrect ones from 6+7, and then had jumped to 264, 266 and 264 on NBMEs 13, 12 and 11, respectively, at 8, 6 and 4 days-out.

I had said in my PDF that 11-13 had risen above 6+7 because of sleeping more (which was very true), but it was, in retrospect, also most certainly because I calibrated to the NBME question-style significantly and stopped over-thinking as much.

When you go with your gut, you'll start getting many more questions right. This saved me on the real USMLE.

Sometimes the answer really is just asthma, not bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. Asthma.

Calibrate.
Go with your gut.
Stop over-thinking crap.
Sleep.
---------
= 10-point jump.

Done deal.

Doing many NBME exams is important. It will teach you what you should expect to get based on how you're functioning that day. With NBME12, I didn't make any errors. The questions I got wrong were all minutiae. With forms 11+13, I had one stupid error on each of them. Forms 6+7 both had a surfeit of mishaps.

If you want to make fewer errors, rapid-click your answers on the real deal. This means: read the question, instantly click what you feel is right, spend another several seconds quickly confirming that thought process, then stop yourself from psychoanalyzing.
 
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I think Rx overpredicts? At least thats what I've read...

You have over a month anyways. You can do serious work in that time and could def break 240 with your progress so far.

I finished Rx EIGHT MONTHS-OUT, and it predicted 275+. 275+.

Rx's prediction system is ******ed. I was probably sitting at a high-230, or just nicking 240, by the time I had finished Rx.

I know this in retrospect based on how much I had learned since then.
 
Pathology: this was mixed with almost everything and similar in style to UW. Histology slides were quite challenging. Goljan and FA were great. So much of it in the exam, so def I would put extra effort in it.

When people say Goljan, do you mean the audio lectures or a book?
xx
 
Good luck everyone!
13.jpg
23.jpg

did you get the email? when did you take the test? tx!
 
Actually Rx finally changed their format. I too had an inflated score - 250 + which is not near the228 I got on NBME 13 but just one week ago they changed formats and my score went from 250 + to 221. It was a little disappointing but way more accurate. As for their simulated exams I don't know if they are still inflated. I will be taking another NBME in the next day or 2 and will see if my score is close to what Rx predicted.
 
Hi Phloston, like you said in nbme 12 there's some minutiae points, so do the other forms. But on the real exam, are there minutiae points like these ones. Like does it help to learn the minutiae points in the nbmes? Thanks.
 
Actually Rx finally changed their format. I too had an inflated score - 250 + which is not near the228 I got on NBME 13 but just one week ago they changed formats and my score went from 250 + to 221. It was a little disappointing but way more accurate. As for their simulated exams I don't know if they are still inflated. I will be taking another NBME in the next day or 2 and will see if my score is close to what Rx predicted.

Mine went from a 253 to 258 without taking a test in between. 😕
 
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