Official 2014 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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hhh2014 said:
Is lange's pharmcards helpful?
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I really liked Lange's pharmcards, especially more the Lippincott's. They're very high yield drugs, and they are made of heavy paper, so you can write and take notes on them. It's easier using these then flipping to the end of every chapter in FA to review your pharm.

Polymyxin said:
Wow, Congrat! How far in advance from the exam did you finish UWorld. And what did you do between that and test day? Also, any other advice of the final 1-2 weeks?
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Thank you! I finished UWorld the first time within the first 3-3.5 weeks if I remember correctly. I marked ALL of the questions after my 1st run through, then I only drew questions from the 'marked' pool. If I got a question wrong or I wanted to revisit a question later while doing through this marked pool, I kept the question marked. So, I went through UWorld slightly more than twice.

The final 1-2 weeks, just review what you don't know, stay calm, and be confident. Make sure to do the free 150. You're likely to see a question from that on your actual exam (I did). Also, I did every single NBME possible, and I am happy that I did.
 
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Flamen04 said:
Here's a breakdown of my practice tests:

School administered NBME (5 weeks out): 190
NBME 11 (3.5 weeks out): 220
UWSA 1 (2.5 weeks out): 240
UWSA 2 (1 week out): 264
Final score: 251

When I left my exam, I felt it was a mix of UWSA 1 and UWSA2. As much as I would've loved a 260+, I had a feeling my score would end up being in the 250 just like my UWSA average.

Overall, I'm happy. I worked hard and glad it payed off. Biggest advice is to stick with how you study and don't listen to what anyone says. You have first aid, pathoma, and uworld. Use them how you see the best. I did random stuff during my study time like watching the first aid express, kaplan, and pathoma videos. I'm not that smart. I feel my dedication got me to this score so anyone can conquer this beast.
Click to expand...


Do you feel that the First Aid express/kaplan vidoes are worth it?
 
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So happy when I received my score today, felt like I was walking on air despite it being a very stressful first day on the wards.

2/28 NBME 6 221
3/18 CBSSE 235
3/22 UWSA 1 253
4/06 NBME 11 247
4/12 NBME 13 245
4/16 NBME 7 251
4/19 NBME 12 243
4/19 UWSA 265
4/19 NBME 15 260
4/20 NBME 16 262
UWorld average 77%

Real thing 2 days later 268

I tried to learn everything really well first and second year, test scores were low 90s. Second year, I read every chapter of Robbins Basic Pathology, Goljan, watched all Pathoma videos, did Robbins questions and USMLE consult questions that came with books. Read a few chapters of Lippincott's biochem in the last two months before I began studying full time on 3/3. I used DIT. I especially liked it for the question sets with video explanations which I used before my 7 week study period, and the warm up questions and questions after the videos. However, it took me a long time to get through all the videos, I didn't finish them until 4/5. From spending so much time on DIT and questions I only got through FA once. I started off doing 1 46 question block per day but then increased to 2 and 3 when I realized I would not finish before my test date. When going through answer explanations I skipped questions that I answered correctly and understood well. I wrote down explanations for questions I got wrong and any answer choices I had not learned about. I went back through these periodically, studying what I didn't know and crossing out what I had learned, until my test date. Never made it through all of them. I feel like I got pretty lucky with my test form, there wasn't much on there I didn't know cold or couldn't make a strong guess on. There were several biostats/epidemiology questions I wouldn't have known without my MPH education. I assumed they were experimental, but maybe they weren't.
Hope this was helpful.
Best of luck!
 
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Missorleans said:
So happy when I received my score today, felt like I was walking on air despite it being a very stressful first day on the wards.

2/28 NBME 6 221
3/18 CBSSE 235
3/22 UWSA 1 253
4/06 NBME 11 247
4/12 NBME 13 245
4/16 NBME 7 251
4/19 NBME 12 243
4/19 UWSA 265
4/19 NBME 15 260
4/20 NBME 16 262
UWorld average 77%

Real thing 2 days later 268

I tried to learn everything really well first and second year, test scores were low 90s. Second year, I read every chapter of Robbins Basic Pathology, Goljan, watched all Pathoma videos, did Robbins questions and USMLE consult questions that came with books. Read a few chapters of Lippincott's biochem in the last two months before I began studying full time on 3/3. I used DIT. I especially liked it for the question sets with video explanations which I used before my 7 week study period, and the warm up questions and questions after the videos. However, it took me a long time to get through all the videos, I didn't finish them until 4/5. From spending so much time on DIT and questions I only got through FA once. I started off doing 1 46 question block per day but then increased to 2 and 3 when I realized I would not finish before my test date. When going through answer explanations I skipped questions that I answered correctly and understood well. I wrote down explanations for questions I got wrong and any answer choices I had not learned about. I went back through these periodically, studying what I didn't know and crossing out what I had learned, until my test date. Never made it through all of them. I feel like I got pretty lucky with my test form, there wasn't much on there I didn't know cold or couldn't make a strong guess on. There were several biostats/epidemiology questions I wouldn't have known without my MPH education. I assumed they were experimental, but maybe they weren't.
Hope this was helpful.
Best of luck!
Click to expand...

Congratulations!
Was DIT helpful for your test?
 
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Got my score today: 249

school NBME: 190 on 2/10
NBME 7 - 226 on 3/16
NBME 13 - 239 on 3/23
NBME 15 - 232 on 3/30
NBME 11 - 245 on 4/2
UWSA 1 - 259 on 4/6
NBME 12 - 251 on 4/10
NBME 16 - 251 on 4/15
UWSA 2 - 252 on 4/17

As you can see, NBMEs 12 and 16 basically predicted my score... and the UWSA 1 completely overshot it. UWSA2 was much more accurate. That said, the test felt a lot more like an NBME than a UWSA.

First Aid: I read FA with classes and then again in the 3 months before dedicated, and then once more during dedicated. During dedicated I used FA Express videos to force myself to get thru the reading.

UWorld: Started UWorld ~5 weeks out and finished without any time to review in corrects. Finished with 70%

Pathoma: Used this with classes (x1). Rewatched everything during the 3 months before dedicated. Rewatched + re-read during dedicated.

Goljan: Read in the 3 months before dedicated. Listened to the audio during dedicated.

USMLE-Rx: Did 50% of USMLE-Rx during the school year with classes.

Others: Read 3/4 of RR Biochem to solidify some concepts I didn't understand (before dedicated I think). Had micro cards, pharmcards, and biochem cards, didn't use them.

What I would do differently:
-Start UWorld earlier (maybe 8 weeks before exam) to have enough time to go through incorrects again.

-On test day: I definitely psyched myself out of a few questions that I had correct and changed to incorrect answers. DON'T DO THIS. Don't overthink things. If you answer something and you've read all the answer choices, don't go back and change it. I did best when I read the question stem and automatically took 2 seconds to think of what answer choice I wanted to see, and then read them and chose the answer that I had previously thought of.

-The things on the test that I didn't know, I could not have prepared for no matter what. Just accept that there will be a few of these questions and move on.

-DO THE FREE 138 QUESTIONS: both the 2013 and 2014 versions. I had 4 questions verbatim from there. Probably had 1-2 from NBMEs as well. I honestly don't know why anyone would NOT do these questions, or all the NBMEs. You have no excuses. Do them.
 
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swoopyswoop said:
Got my score today: 249

school NBME: 190 on 2/10
NBME 7 - 226 on 3/16
NBME 13 - 239 on 3/23
NBME 15 - 232 on 3/30
NBME 11 - 245 on 4/2
UWSA 1 - 259 on 4/6
NBME 12 - 251 on 4/10
NBME 16 - 251 on 4/15
UWSA 2 - 252 on 4/17

As you can see, NBMEs 12 and 16 basically predicted my score... and the UWSA 1 completely overshot it. UWSA2 was much more accurate. That said, the test felt a lot more like an NBME than a UWSA.

First Aid: I read FA with classes and then again in the 3 months before dedicated, and then once more during dedicated. During dedicated I used FA Express videos to force myself to get thru the reading.

UWorld: Started UWorld ~5 weeks out and finished without any time to review in corrects. Finished with 70%

Pathoma: Used this with classes (x1). Rewatched everything during the 3 months before dedicated. Rewatched + re-read during dedicated.

Goljan: Read in the 3 months before dedicated. Listened to the audio during dedicated.

USMLE-Rx: Did 50% of USMLE-Rx during the school year with classes.

Others: Read 3/4 of RR Biochem to solidify some concepts I didn't understand (before dedicated I think). Had micro cards, pharmcards, and biochem cards, didn't use them.

What I would do differently:
-Start UWorld earlier (maybe 8 weeks before exam) to have enough time to go through incorrects again.

-On test day: I definitely psyched myself out of a few questions that I had correct and changed to incorrect answers. DON'T DO THIS. Don't overthink things. If you answer something and you've read all the answer choices, don't go back and change it. I did best when I read the question stem and automatically took 2 seconds to think of what answer choice I wanted to see, and then read them and chose the answer that I had previously thought of.

-The things on the test that I didn't know, I could not have prepared for no matter what. Just accept that there will be a few of these questions and move on.

-DO THE FREE 138 QUESTIONS: both the 2013 and 2014 versions. I had 4 questions verbatim from there. Probably had 1-2 from NBMEs as well. I honestly don't know why anyone would NOT do these questions, or all the NBMEs. You have no excuses. Do them.
Click to expand...

I know this is going to sound neurotic (it is), but should I start going though FA as I take the classes in 1st year? I start in July. I've heard not to start studying until second year. Just wondering when you started FA
 
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mct2762 said:
I know this is going to sound neurotic (it is), but should I start going though FA as I take the classes in 1st year? I start in July. I've heard not to start studying until second year. Just wondering when you started FA
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It's neurotic that you're even in this forum haha. Bust your ass as hard you can and do as well as possible your first year. It's going to grind you into a fine mush if you're not ready for it and giving it your all. Check back here next summer after M1 year.
 
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mct2762 said:
I know this is going to sound neurotic (it is), but should I start going though FA as I take the classes in 1st year? I start in July. I've heard not to start studying until second year. Just wondering when you started FA
Click to expand...

I would just familiarize yourself with the material in FA as you go through it with your classes. No need to go overboard though. It will save a lot of time a year or 2 down the road as you get into board review time.
 
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swoopyswoop said:
During dedicated I used FA Express videos to force myself to get thru the reading.
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Great score, congrats! How beneficial do you think it was to run through FA Express during dedicated time. I am considering doing that (I'm 5 weeks out) mainly because I simply cannot sit down and read FA (poor attention span). Over how many days did you split it up?
 
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Polymyxin said:
Great score, congrats! How beneficial do you think it was to run through FA Express during dedicated time. I am considering doing that (I'm 5 weeks out) mainly because I simply cannot sit down and read FA (poor attention span). Over how many days did you split it up?
Click to expand...

Now that I think about it, I really can't remember if I used express during dedicated or before... If you use it, listen on 1.5 speed. I usually spent my days during dedicated doing 46 qs in the morning + reviewing, reading FA / pathoma in the afternoon, and doing another 46 Qs at night.
 
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Missorleans said:
So happy when I received my score today, felt like I was walking on air despite it being a very stressful first day on the wards.

2/28 NBME 6 221
3/18 CBSSE 235
3/22 UWSA 1 253
4/06 NBME 11 247
4/12 NBME 13 245
4/16 NBME 7 251
4/19 NBME 12 243
4/19 UWSA 265
4/19 NBME 15 260
4/20 NBME 16 262
UWorld average 77%

Real thing 2 days later 268

I tried to learn everything really well first and second year, test scores were low 90s. Second year, I read every chapter of Robbins Basic Pathology, Goljan, watched all Pathoma videos, did Robbins questions and USMLE consult questions that came with books. Read a few chapters of Lippincott's biochem in the last two months before I began studying full time on 3/3. I used DIT. I especially liked it for the question sets with video explanations which I used before my 7 week study period, and the warm up questions and questions after the videos. However, it took me a long time to get through all the videos, I didn't finish them until 4/5. From spending so much time on DIT and questions I only got through FA once. I started off doing 1 46 question block per day but then increased to 2 and 3 when I realized I would not finish before my test date. When going through answer explanations I skipped questions that I answered correctly and understood well. I wrote down explanations for questions I got wrong and any answer choices I had not learned about. I went back through these periodically, studying what I didn't know and crossing out what I had learned, until my test date. Never made it through all of them. I feel like I got pretty lucky with my test form, there wasn't much on there I didn't know cold or couldn't make a strong guess on. There were several biostats/epidemiology questions I wouldn't have known without my MPH education. I assumed they were experimental, but maybe they weren't.
Hope this was helpful.
Best of luck!
Click to expand...
Looks like you simulated an 8-block exam day on 4/19. What do you think accounted for your almost 20 point jump between NBME 12 and NBME 15 even though you took them both on the same day?

Also, it seems like your UWSA 2 was more predictive of your real score than even the later NBMEs (which seems to be true for a lot of the top scorers). Do you feel your step 1 was accordingly more similar to UWorld in difficulty or the later NBMEs?

Thanks and great job on an excellent score.
 
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Polymyxin said:
Great score, congrats! How beneficial do you think it was to run through FA Express during dedicated time. I am considering doing that (I'm 5 weeks out) mainly because I simply cannot sit down and read FA (poor attention span). Over how many days did you split it up?
Click to expand...

I bought the FA express videos for the same reason you mentioned above, but I ended up returning them for a refund. It seemed as they were just quickly skimming through first aid and leaving out a lot of the HY stuff mentioned in the margins. They also didn't have page references for the newer 2014 videos they added. They would just start lecturing on a topic and i would have to constantly pause to see where it was in the book. However, the most frustrating thing was the video playback speed. Yea you can play it at 1.5x, but it sounds like you're listening to someone with Wernicke aphasia and the normal speed is just waaaaaay to slow.

I haven't taken my exam yet and I'm not one of these 260+ guy's, so take it with a grain of salt. But I personally think you're time is better spent sucking it up and reading FA with your annotations. They have a 5-day refund policy so maybe you can give it a go if you are curious. good luck!
 
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Vexare said:
Looks like you simulated an 8-block exam day on 4/19. What do you think accounted for your almost 20 point jump between NBME 12 and NBME 15 even though you took them both on the same day?

Also, it seems like your UWSA 2 was more predictive of your real score than even the later NBMEs (which seems to be true for a lot of the top scorers). Do you feel your step 1 was accordingly more similar to UWorld in difficulty or the later NBMEs?

Thanks and great job on an excellent score.
Click to expand...

I think 12 tried my test taking ability. I found myself changing answers I was unsure of more on 12 than usual. After I saw the score on that one I reminded myself to stay with my first instinct unless I realized it was definitely wrong. There were also several ethics questions that tripped me up on that one I think.
I felt like the exam was very similar to the later NBMEs in difficulty.
 
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mct2762 said:
I know this is going to sound neurotic (it is), but should I start going though FA as I take the classes in 1st year? I start in July. I've heard not to start studying until second year. Just wondering when you started FA
Click to expand...

I started FA in my 4th semester. I always tell MS1's that the best way to prepare for boards is to 1) learn your material well 2) review it along the way so you don't forget it.
 
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Wow, you guys all have seriously high scores. For those of you reading this thread and freaking out, here is my prep history. I consistently scored about 1 standard deviation below class average on my exams. I failed one block and had to remediate it in the summer after M1. Prep strategy was UFAP. I made it through everything twice. UWorld first pass was by organ system, tutor mode, average was 65%. UWorld second pass was random timed, average was 79%. I supplemented with Kaplan's Pharm cards and First Aid Cases for weak areas (notably, neuro and cardio). First NBME was on 2/24, prior to any dedicated studying.
  • 2/24: NBME ?? - 205 (school administered)
  • 3/24: NBME 16 - 202
  • 4/07: UWSA1 - 236
  • 4/14: NBME 15 - 217
  • 4/18: NBME 12 - 224
  • 4/21: NBME 11 - 228
Actual was on 4/23, scored 233.
 
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anriar said:
Haha I can't take credit for that - I'm usually over at /r/medicalschool, UFAP is the standard protocol over there. (And in case it wasn't clear, that's Uworld, First Aid, Pathoma.)
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Did you feel it was helpful to take NBME's so close to your exam date? Some people have been saying lately that they don't take one within the 1 week timeframe because it really would serve no purpose than to freak them out if they got a low score because a week and/or because there's not much you can do to bump up your score significantly in 5-7 days.
 
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anriar said:
Wow, you guys all have seriously high scores. For those of you reading this thread and freaking out, here is my prep history. I consistently scored about 1 standard deviation below class average on my exams. I failed one block and had to remediate it in the summer after M1. Prep strategy was UFAP. I made it through everything twice. UWorld first pass was by organ system, tutor mode, average was 65%. UWorld second pass was random timed, average was 79%. I supplemented with Kaplan's Pharm cards and First Aid Cases for weak areas (notably, neuro and cardio). First NBME was on 2/24, prior to any dedicated studying.
  • 2/24: NBME ?? - 205 (school administered)
  • 3/24: NBME 16 - 202
  • 4/07: UWSA1 - 236
  • 4/14: NBME 15 - 217
  • 4/18: NBME 12 - 224
  • 4/21: NBME 11 - 228
Actual was on 4/23, scored 233.
Click to expand...

Nice work dude. I'm with you, just another human being that somehow made it into medical school. Thanks for the post! I'm <4 weeks out.
 
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addy said:
Did you feel it was helpful to take NBME's so close to your exam date? Some people have been saying lately that they don't take one within the 1 week timeframe because it really would serve no purpose than to freak them out if they got a low score because a week and/or because there's not much you can do to bump up your score significantly in 5-7 days.
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Yeah, I thought it was helpful. After I got that 217, I was pretty nervous. I had mostly intended to take them (and add 3 UWorld blocks) in order to build stamina for the actual test, but seeing my score in the 220's on two NBMEs made me feel a lot better. My goal was 227 (I read that was the national mean), so scoring above that on NBME 11 felt really good.
 
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Great scores guys. It does seem that people on SDN do have a mean score of 260 or above.

Hope to get a 260+ too ! Ahoy ! Slogging away !
 
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Made a 241, pretty happy w/ it overall. Exam on 4/24

~7 wks of dedicated study.
NBME 12 - 203 on 3/2
Basic Sciences Shelf: 222 on 3/12
NBME 15- 211 on 4/1 (this one freaked me out, and I upped my studying the last 3 wks from 12 to 15 hrs a day)
Free 150: 4/12, 86% (very useful, I def had some repeats on real deal)
UWSA 1 - 241 on 4/15
UWSA 2 - 247 on 4/19
USMLE Rx: finished by 3/15 and scored ~68% (the Rx score predictor is way off, don't follow it)
UWorld: - finished with a little less than week left at 71%, and redid incorrect/marked questions

I actually found UWSA to be the best predictor for me (UWSA 1 exactly predicted by score), and the exam felt most like this test. Granted the real thing had way more gimmes, but the medium/hard questions on the real thing were just like UW. A lot of people say it overpredicts, but I think for scores on UWSA between 220-250 it's really on the ball. For higher scores, like a 265 (the max UWSA), this is merely telling you that you are in the competitive 250+ range. It's tough to predict with high accuracy the exact score when you get to above 250+ since it comes down luck/test taking skills on the real thing, since only a few questions make a difference.

For some reason I always struggled on the NBMEs, I didn't take one in the last 3 wks since I figured it would really mess up my confidence if I scored badly. But for most NBMEs seem to be pretty good predictors (it underpredicted mine by 30 points)

First Aid: I read FA with classes and then again in the 6 weeks dedicated. Rx was great for helping me learn this. I didn't really like DIT and didn't follow a schedule reading, I just let Qbank questions guide my focus in first aid. Annotated Rx in blue, UWorld learning objectives in red

USMLE-Rx: Great Qbank IMO. helps you learn first aid cold, and asks questions in a different manner than uworld. and so is better in kaplan in this sense. But dont' waste your time doing this in the last 5 weeks, which should be dedicated to just Uworld. This is just icing if you have the time, UWorld is the core.

UWorld: Started UWorld ~5 weeks out and finished with about 5 days left to do incorrects/marked. Finished with 71%

Pathoma: The single best resource for step and second year. Rewatched everything starting January and constantly rewatched subsections if I got something wrong on the topic in Uworld. I found that 99.9% of pathology questions could be answered if you truly understand this book.

Goljan: Listened to the audio on my walk to library. Diff style of teaching than Sattar, and great supplement that prob gained me some points from tidbits


Others: For reference I had RR, BRS Physio, Kaplan Pharm (which was superb but I didn't do all of it),

What I would do differently:
-Learn pathoma cold going into the 6 week dedicated. I had viewed pathoma initially as a good "starting point" but really its a good ending point in and of itself. Even though the book is 200 pgs and ~20 hrs video (on 1.7) , it takes a long time to master it cold. I would have made anki flash cards of every line in the book during 2nd semester of 2nd year.

-On test day: Time is always an issue for me. Don't underestimate test-taking skills, it truly can affect your score +/- 10 on any given exam, at a given level of knowledge. At least 50% of the questions on the exam are gimmes where you will know the answer in <20 seconds. Don't convince yourself otherwise, it really is that easy and trust your knowledge.
It's the other 50% that are tricky/worded in weird ways that makes you second guess yourself and spend too much time on them. I feel I missed some gimme questions because I got fixated on a handful of trickier ones in each section, and I always had <2 minutes for the last 4 questions. I missed a super easy aortic dissection and pharm calculation one bc i was left with 20 seconds to answer both. Narrow any question down to 2 (which can be done in most cases). Don't spend more than 2 mins max on any one question, and then star it and come back. Write down formulas/mneumonics/misc. info during tutorial for peace of mind, if time is an issue for you as a test taker.

Best of luck 3rd year, hope my experience helps!
 
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Missorleans said:
I think 12 tried my test taking ability. I found myself changing answers I was unsure of more on 12 than usual. After I saw the score on that one I reminded myself to stay with my first instinct unless I realized it was definitely wrong. There were also several ethics questions that tripped me up on that one I think.
I felt like the exam was very similar to the later NBMEs in difficulty.
Click to expand...
Excellent advice, thank you. I'll be sure to prioritize taking the later NBMEs as I get closer to my real deal.
 
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CBSE 1 (13 weeks out): 238
NBME 1 (offline) (12 weeks out): 223
NBME 2 (offline) (11 weeks out): 234
NBME 3 (offline) (10 weeks out): 242
NBME 4 (offline) (9 weeks out): 245
NBME 5 (offline) (8 weeks out): 242
NBME 6 (offline) (7 weeks out): 242
NBME 7 (6 weeks out): 245
NBME 11 (5 weeks out): 247

Just came here mostly to complain, haha. I don't understand NBME 11, it has been the hardest NBME I've taken thus far, I thought I was going to get a 220's, felt terrible throughout, and seem to hit on all my weaknesses. Did anyone else have trouble with this one?

Seemed so unbalanced, and 80% of the test was genetics/pathology/anatomy of the musculoskeletal section of first aid.
I swear everyother question was about Bones, Muscles, Nerves, and general anatomy -.-
 
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Ionian said:
CBSE 1 (13 weeks out): 238
NBME 1 (offline) (12 weeks out): 223
NBME 2 (offline) (11 weeks out): 234
NBME 3 (offline) (10 weeks out): 242
NBME 4 (offline) (9 weeks out): 245
NBME 5 (offline) (8 weeks out): 242
NBME 6 (offline) (7 weeks out): 242
NBME 7 (6 weeks out): 245
NBME 11 (5 weeks out): 247

Just came here mostly to complain, haha. I don't understand NBME 11, it has been the hardest NBME I've taken thus far, I thought I was going to get a 220's, felt terrible throughout, and seem to hit on all my weaknesses. Did anyone else have trouble with this one?

Seemed so unbalanced, and 80% of the test was genetics/pathology/anatomy of the musculoskeletal section of first aid.
I swear every other question was about Bones, Muscles, Nerves, and general anatomy -.-
Click to expand...

That sounds rough. I don't like MSK either. Are you a DO student?

pouring-out-liquor.gif
 
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Scores back. 258. Definitely wasn't expecting that since I did pretty average in the 1st two years, but I'll try to detail my method.

School-administered NBME, ~7wks out, no prior studying: 217

Weeks 1-2:
When reading about Step prep, a lot of people placed a premium on memorizing FA so I focused on getting a 1st pass through the organ systems and reinforcing with USMLE-Rx before doing Uworld. I gave myself 2 weeks to get through all the organ systems & the corresponding Pathoma chapter, 1 system/d (except my weakpoints GI/neuro 2d). I would basically read the page, try to recite it to myself or write it out on paper and highlight stuff that I had trouble remembering. I also did 2 blocks of Rx for each system, 1 at nighttime and 1 upon waking the next day before starting my next system, each with minimal review time since it was mostly a tool for gauging recall. While this was the most painful part of the process, it definitely helped me organize the information in my brain and made learning from Uworld easier since I had familiarity with the topics. However you do it, get through FA for the basic framework and you can mentally 'annotate' stuff you learn later on from stuff you get wrong.

NBME 11: 234

Weeks: 3-4:
2 blocks Uworld/d + non-organ system chapters. These weeks were about getting used to the getting into test taking mentality and learning about your testing habits. I would review every explanation and make brief notes about it in a word doc about things that tripped me up. Any question explanation with a picture/graph/diagram was marked for later in addition to any question that I approached incorrectly (right or wrong). I used Uworld for reinforcement and as a way to fine-tune my sense of easy (buzzword) and hard questions since I had a tendency to overthink questions. A good rule of thumb: if you have to justify any answer choice in more than 2 steps, it's probably wrong; they aren't always trying to trick you.

Uworld % 1st pass random: 73->78%
NBME 12, end of wk 3: 241
NBME 13, end of wk 4: 251

Weeks 5-6:
I went over FA again with a different color highlighter and basically did the same thing as earlier, recalling facts and highlighting stuff that I didn't know. My earlier organ systems were starting to become a little blurry, so this was a good refresher. I took a more integrative approach to reading this time and would try to tie stuff that I read to stuff that was similar to it and compare/contrast or ask myself "how would this show up on a question?". Organ systems didn't take as long this time and I emphasized pharm & micro.

NBME 15, end of wk 5: 256
NBME 16, end of wk 6 (1wk out): 256

Week 7:
Rereview any weakpoints and go over Uworld markeds and incorrects. I started panicking on the last day and ended up reading FA cover to cover, which probably didn't do anything.

Real test:
Question stems definitely were longer and felt like a mix of Uworld/NBME style questions. Positive thinking helped; no matter how WTF a question looks, it's probably something you studied since test writers just need to come up with weirder ways to word questions (unless it's straight fact recall style). I always saved 2 part questions for the end of the block, since knowing you got something wrong in the middle of the block stays in the back your mind and messes up your groove. Don't underestimate your gut/first impressions on questions, if you've prepped with enough questions then just trust that your brain will come up with the answer. All-in-all, memorizing FA/pathoma worked for me and those books + UWorld/Rx were sufficient, just be sure to study the books with purpose.
 
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wololololololo said:
Scores back. 258. Definitely wasn't expecting that since I did pretty average in the 1st two years, but I'll try to detail my method.

School-administered NBME, ~7wks out, no prior studying: 217

Weeks 1-2:
When reading about Step prep, a lot of people placed a premium on memorizing FA so I focused on getting a 1st pass through the organ systems and reinforcing with USMLE-Rx before doing Uworld. I gave myself 2 weeks to get through all the organ systems & the corresponding Pathoma chapter, 1 system/d (except my weakpoints GI/neuro 2d). I would basically read the page, try to recite it to myself or write it out on paper and highlight stuff that I had trouble remembering. I also did 2 blocks of Rx for each system, 1 at nighttime and 1 upon waking the next day before starting my next system, each with minimal review time since it was mostly a tool for gauging recall. While this was the most painful part of the process, it definitely helped me organize the information in my brain and made learning from Uworld easier since I had familiarity with the topics. However you do it, get through FA for the basic framework and you can mentally 'annotate' stuff you learn later on from stuff you get wrong.

NBME 11: 234

Weeks: 3-4:
2 blocks Uworld/d + non-organ system chapters. These weeks were about getting used to the getting into test taking mentality and learning about your testing habits. I would review every explanation and make brief notes about it in a word doc about things that tripped me up. Any question explanation with a picture/graph/diagram was marked for later in addition to any question that I approached incorrectly (right or wrong). I used Uworld for reinforcement and as a way to fine-tune my sense of easy (buzzword) and hard questions since I had a tendency to overthink questions. A good rule of thumb: if you have to justify any answer choice in more than 2 steps, it's probably wrong; they aren't always trying to trick you.

Uworld % 1st pass random: 73->78%
NBME 12, end of wk 3: 241
NBME 13, end of wk 4: 251

Weeks 5-6:
I went over FA again with a different color highlighter and basically did the same thing as earlier, recalling facts and highlighting stuff that I didn't know. My earlier organ systems were starting to become a little blurry, so this was a good refresher. I took a more integrative approach to reading this time and would try to tie stuff that I read to stuff that was similar to it and compare/contrast or ask myself "how would this show up on a question?". Organ systems didn't take as long this time and I emphasized pharm & micro.

NBME 15, end of wk 5: 256
NBME 16, end of wk 6 (1wk out): 256

Week 7:
Rereview any weakpoints and go over Uworld markeds and incorrects. I started panicking on the last day and ended up reading FA cover to cover, which probably didn't do anything.

Real test:
Question stems definitely were longer and felt like a mix of Uworld/NBME style questions. Positive thinking helped; no matter how WTF a question looks, it's probably something you studied since test writers just need to come up with weirder ways to word questions (unless it's straight fact recall style). I always saved 2 part questions for the end of the block, since knowing you got something wrong in the middle of the block stays in the back your mind and messes up your groove. Don't underestimate your gut/first impressions on questions, if you've prepped with enough questions then just trust that your brain will come up with the answer. All-in-all, memorizing FA/pathoma worked for me and those books + UWorld/Rx were sufficient, just be sure to study the books with purpose.
Click to expand...

Your scores on NBME 11, 12, and 13 give me a lot of hope since I'm about 10 points down from you on all of those except 13 (247). Good stuff. In addition, I started with a 215 on my first NBME, 16, and followed a very similar trajectory. Sweet! TWO MORE WEEKS.
 
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Good thread, I'm normally a lurker but I'm learning a lot. Anyone know if the 'free 150' questions that usmle gives you are the same from the 2 sets they give you? There's a before mid-May question set and an after mid-May question set. Thanks!
 
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Medschool12345 said:
Good thread, I'm normally a lurker but I'm learning a lot. Anyone know if the 'free 150' questions that usmle gives you are the same from the 2 sets they give you? There's a before mid-May question set and an after mid-May question set. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Not 100% sure what you're asking, but I think this will help:
http://www.feedurbrain.com/forum/showthread.php?34699-Usmle-Step-I-Free-Practice-Material-(Free-150)

The 2012 pdf from that link seems to differ from from the 2014 one here: http://www.usmle.org/pdfs/step-1/2014samples_step1.pdf

And the 2012 one is the same as the 2010 one. However, I'm not sure, since I only compared the first question of 2010, 2012, and 2014.
 
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I just realized...the studying we do for this test will be more intense than anything we study for throughout the rest of our lives. We will never have to study harder for another test again.

That's true right?
 
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kirbymiester said:
I just realized...the studying we do for this test will be more intense than anything we study for throughout the rest of our lives. We will never have to study harder for another test again.

That's true right?
Click to expand...

Calling all M4s . . .
 
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kirbymiester said:
I just realized...the studying we do for this test will be more intense than anything we study for throughout the rest of our lives. We will never have to study harder for another test again.

That's true right?
Click to expand...


I don't know how true that is. My friend is a General Surgery resident eye-ing a fellowships that is super competitive and needs high ABSITE scores (Pediatric Surgery) and he studied pretty damn hard for that test. But, on a broader scale I think you're right.
 
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addy said:
I don't know how true that is. My friend is a General Surgery resident eye-ing a fellowships that is super competitive and needs high ABSITE scores (Pediatric Surgery) and he studied pretty damn hard for that test. But, on a broader scale I think you're right.
Click to expand...

Hahaha I wasn't even aware there was a test to apply for fellowships. There truly is no end to standardized testing in medicine.
 
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hmm after reading some of the recent posts -- were there a lot of calculations on the real deal? def have to memorize all the physio, pharm, and biostats equations?
 
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Earlier people were talking about Pholston's high yield PowerPoint presentations. Anyone know where to access those? Please pm if you like
 
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Not to knock pholston or his power points, but really they're just the micro bugs in first aid with some tidbits added straight from uworld. If you do uworld and annotate a little bit into first aid, you'll get the same information.
 
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I have a question regarding peaking.

I took my school "sponsored" CBSE this Thursday (6 weeks out) and got a 250. I'm not bragging on that-it took enough just to post after seeing some monsters on here. I also realize that it was one test (haven't taken one NBME yet). My question is:

Should I move my test from late June to mid June since I am at my original target (I dream of getting a 250) or gut it out and go big for a 260 and continue? I'm afraid I'll peak and actually hurt my score if I don't take it earlier, but I don't want to regret not getting a better score. I am almost finished with uworld at 72% random, timed. Any advice?
 
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