Official 2014 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Amazing post dali, thanks


EDIT: I wonder if that's why our Step 1 study adviser keeps telling us to do 3 blocks of uworld a day (3 x 46) the entire month we have off.
 
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Took it yesterday. I feel like I passed, and can only hope that my NBME scores were good predictors.

School-administered NBME: 228
UWorld 1: 245
NBME 15: 247
NBME 16: 249 (halfway through the study period)
NBME 13: 243 (panic, decided to take a second pass through FA)
Free 150: 88%

Got through FA twice, about halfway through Uworld (72% avg by the end). Early Uworld avg was very consistently 70%, by the time I got through FA the second time I was getting in the 80s on most blocks.
Got 9 hours of sleep a night almost every night, and did some light exercise at the gym 3-4 days a week. Took a couple of break days in the middle and one before the test. Had a month to study.

Advice:
- Do what feels good. We've been in school for most of our lives at this point, and we know what works best for us. If it feels good to study a certain way, it's probably because you're learning a lot. My study period was one big plateau though
 
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Just started my dedicated study for <6 weeks. TERRIFIED> I have a lot of q's so get ready.

1. What do people do during this protected time - should I do another Qbank Like Kaplan? I have done UW and am still going through it. Have to finish RX unless someone tells me it's not worth it. OR should i focus on READING (books, FA, BRS physio etc)? Is it wrong to try to "learn a entire subject" via doing the q's in a q bank -- seems like this is kinda risky since it just leaves what you learn up to waht the test writers chose to focus on...

2. these "outta nowhere" q's people are talking about -- could these be experimental?

3. I feel like i'm weak on physio and everyone says it's a huge part of the test so I'm doing Guyton q's but they seem perhaps too "hard science" for step 1.

4. do people do a comprehensive review during this time or focus on their weaknesses? I feel like I"m super strong on certain things (like the things you can memorize to the point where I'm like "DUH" but then on certain concepts i'm like "when did i leaern this"). Trying to minimize going over those points where I"m like "i'd get this q right in my dreams"

5. do people use the UWSA's as "learning tools" too or more of a gauge? I've taken a few NBMEs but not the UW ones and I always feel like I "got lucky" if i got a q right -- i guess i'm trying to say I don't feel very confident in my answers and i wonder if i have gaps in my knowledge. Not sure how to adequately get them all covered in this time - systematically or focus on what i percieve myself to be weak on?

6. Were the ethics and BS q's on the real test more like the NBME's or more like UW? On UW i find them hard. On the NBME's I seem to do pretty well and perceive them as more straightfwd than UW. Just tryign to figure out how to adequately tackle this.

7. not sure if i shoudl devote any time to anatomy -- seems like ppl are saying it's low yield for the time it'd take. that said, i feel scared relying on what i remember from over a year ago. Should i devvote more time to embryo than anatomy?

8. What are people doing for immuno? Do ppl like the Kaplan Immuno videos?

9. Same for histo - what are ppl doing and what do they think of KLN histo?
 
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1dayatatime said:
Just started my dedicated study for <6 weeks. TERRIFIED> I have a lot of q's so get ready.

1. What do people do during this protected time - should I do another Qbank Like Kaplan? I have done UW and am still going through it. Have to finish RX unless someone tells me it's not worth it. OR should i focus on READING (books, FA, BRS physio etc)? Is it wrong to try to "learn a entire subject" via doing the q's in a q bank -- seems like this is kinda risky since it just leaves what you learn up to waht the test writers chose to focus on...

2. these "outta nowhere" q's people are talking about -- could these be experimental?

3. I feel like i'm weak on physio and everyone says it's a huge part of the test so I'm doing Guyton q's but they seem perhaps too "hard science" for step 1.

4. do people do a comprehensive review during this time or focus on their weaknesses? I feel like I"m super strong on certain things (like the things you can memorize to the point where I'm like "DUH" but then on certain concepts i'm like "when did i leaern this"). Trying to minimize going over those points where I"m like "i'd get this q right in my dreams"

5. do people use the UWSA's as "learning tools" too or more of a gauge? I've taken a few NBMEs but not the UW ones and I always feel like I "got lucky" if i got a q right -- i guess i'm trying to say I don't feel very confident in my answers and i wonder if i have gaps in my knowledge. Not sure how to adequately get them all covered in this time - systematically or focus on what i percieve myself to be weak on?

6. Were the ethics and BS q's on the real test more like the NBME's or more like UW? On UW i find them hard. On the NBME's I seem to do pretty well and perceive them as more straightfwd than UW. Just tryign to figure out how to adequately tackle this.

7. not sure if i shoudl devote any time to anatomy -- seems like ppl are saying it's low yield for the time it'd take. that said, i feel scared relying on what i remember from over a year ago. Should i devvote more time to embryo than anatomy?

8. What are people doing for immuno? Do ppl like the Kaplan Immuno videos?

9. Same for histo - what are ppl doing and what do they think of KLN histo?
Click to expand...
1. Do UW x 2, or at least 1.5 (redoing your old questions). Only if you're going to complete that should you focus time on completing another qbank. Some people here hate on Rx and Kaplan, but a lot of people also think they are worthwhile. I definitely think it was. Noone really argues that UW isn't the biggest priority.

2. No reason to think that they are or are not experimental. Easy questions can be experimental, too. If every question was straight forward and right out of FA, then a lot of students would get every single question right.

3. It seems that subjects (outside of Path) that are "heavily tested" goes through different waves (i.e., whatever you heard someone had a lot on will be different from the next group). But, a firm grasp of physio giving its tie-ins with path and pharmacology is important. The Guyton review book is generally considered overkill/too much of a time waste during dedicated period--but if you have the time for it and you're weak in physio, it'll definitely give you a stronger understanding than BRS and FA will.

4. People do both. One suggestion others have given (which I plan to follow) is go through FA once quickly, then go through a 2nd time with a dark marker and black out all the stuff you know, leaving yourself a condensed version to study through the last time or two you go through it.

5. Gauge yourself and review the questions. Obviously, with NBMEs you can't really go through all the ones you got right and "guessed" on, but at least you knew enough to guess right. The number one reason for them is to gauge performance, but if I spend 4 hours doing questions, I'm gonna make sure I know what I got wrong, too. Also, everyone feels like they get lucky a lot of times, you have to trust that if you are consistently getting 250+ on NBMEs (or whatever score) then that is reflective of your knowledge level.

7. Generally the advice I get is no. FA and UW should cover enough of these topics, and you will get very few questions from them.

6 and 8 I don't have any comment on.

Just my opinions! Ultimately figure out what works for you and make your own decisions.
 
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1dayatatime said:
Just started my dedicated study for <6 weeks. TERRIFIED> I have a lot of q's so get ready.

1. What do people do during this protected time - should I do another Qbank Like Kaplan? I have done UW and am still going through it. Have to finish RX unless someone tells me it's not worth it. OR should i focus on READING (books, FA, BRS physio etc)? Is it wrong to try to "learn a entire subject" via doing the q's in a q bank -- seems like this is kinda risky since it just leaves what you learn up to waht the test writers chose to focus on...

2. these "outta nowhere" q's people are talking about -- could these be experimental?

3. I feel like i'm weak on physio and everyone says it's a huge part of the test so I'm doing Guyton q's but they seem perhaps too "hard science" for step 1.

4. do people do a comprehensive review during this time or focus on their weaknesses? I feel like I"m super strong on certain things (like the things you can memorize to the point where I'm like "DUH" but then on certain concepts i'm like "when did i leaern this"). Trying to minimize going over those points where I"m like "i'd get this q right in my dreams"

5. do people use the UWSA's as "learning tools" too or more of a gauge? I've taken a few NBMEs but not the UW ones and I always feel like I "got lucky" if i got a q right -- i guess i'm trying to say I don't feel very confident in my answers and i wonder if i have gaps in my knowledge. Not sure how to adequately get them all covered in this time - systematically or focus on what i percieve myself to be weak on?

6. Were the ethics and BS q's on the real test more like the NBME's or more like UW? On UW i find them hard. On the NBME's I seem to do pretty well and perceive them as more straightfwd than UW. Just tryign to figure out how to adequately tackle this.

7. not sure if i shoudl devote any time to anatomy -- seems like ppl are saying it's low yield for the time it'd take. that said, i feel scared relying on what i remember from over a year ago. Should i devvote more time to embryo than anatomy?

8. What are people doing for immuno? Do ppl like the Kaplan Immuno videos?

9. Same for histo - what are ppl doing and what do they think of KLN histo?
Click to expand...


8. Kaplan Immuno videos are great during class, but they're loooong and probably not an effective use of your dedicated study time. You might be better off reviewing FA and/or class notes, but I could be wrong.
 
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Donald Juan said:
4. People do both. One suggestion others have given (which I plan to follow) is go through FA once quickly, then go through a 2nd time with a dark marker and black out all the stuff you know, leaving yourself a condensed version to study through the last time or two you go through it.
Click to expand...

Personally, I think this is a bad idea. What happens if you only **think** you know something and want to reference it later, only to find out you blacked it out with a marker?
 
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I'd do that on a digital copy, or just use a dark highlighter. There are parts of FA that I know I'll not forget for at least a decade.
 
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I'm seeing a lot of "Do UW twice" on here these days. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but I just want to add counterweight in that I do not think UWx2 is the best use of time. I think reading all of the explanations without doing the questions again is instead a better use of one's time, focusing on what one highlighted in the first reading of explanations.
 
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With how important everyone says Uworld is...I'm curious to know why people don't start it much earlier to allow more time to absorb the info? It seems a lot of people wait till dedicated period to start and or repeat it. Whereas it could be started much earlier in second year with classes before other qbanks. Isn't the point to learn what is in uworld, and to use NBMEs to predict a score?
 
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Dr Dazzle said:
With how important everyone says Uworld is...I'm curious to know why people don't start it much earlier to allow more time to absorb the info? It seems a lot of people wait till dedicated period to start and or repeat it. Whereas it could be started much earlier in second year with classes before other qbanks. Isn't the point to learn what is in uworld, and to use NBMEs to predict a score?
Click to expand...
Misinformation
 
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Dr Dazzle said:
Perhaps it isn't worth doing RX and Kaplan qbanks, because they take time away from uworld?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't go as far as to say that, but if your choice is between UW and another bank, UW wins every time.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
 
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RandomHero117 said:
Personally, I think this is a bad idea. What happens if you only **think** you know something and want to reference it later, only to find out you blacked it out with a marker?
Click to expand...
Valid point--the dark highlighter someone else mentioned is a good idea. I just liked it as a way to both do a broad review, and still narrow yourself down as you study. I don't think my schedule allows for me to go cover to cover FA 5-6X, but there are topics in there I need to cover 10X before I take my boards.
 
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Dr Dazzle said:
With how important everyone says Uworld is...I'm curious to know why people don't start it much earlier to allow more time to absorb the info? It seems a lot of people wait till dedicated period to start and or repeat it. Whereas it could be started much earlier in second year with classes before other qbanks. Isn't the point to learn what is in uworld, and to use NBMEs to predict a score?
Click to expand...

-you will forget things you learn the further out they are. I think if you start uworld too early you might recognize questions later on but not necessarily remember the rationale behind them.

-Uworld allows you to test your knowledge and learn from reading explanations. On your second pass, it might not be a good way to test your subject knowledge because you might remember question stems instead of the concepts, as mentioned above.

-It covers concepts that span multiple subjects, so if you start too early when you haven't had many organ systems, you might miss out on important connections.

-although Kaplan and Rx qbanks have flaws, I think that completing either or both is more beneficial than completing uworld twice.

^^just my thoughts on the matter.
 
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Hey guys! I had a quick question. My exam is in 7 days. I've taken Nbme 6, 11, 13 and 15. I have yet to write form 7 and 16. I'd like to do both but which one would be more high yield at this point in time?


Thank you.
 
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Have to thank Matteo. Had a question about satiety, and I was able to eliminate ghrelin agonist because he had written in a previous post, "Ghrehlin makes your stomach growl." I will also do a detailed writeup, but I honestly don't think my exam went too well, so it might end up being more of a cautionary tale/ what not to do.

Wanted to thank everyone on this forum. It was super helpful in designing a study plan, but unfortunately the exam just didn't pan as I wanted/ I don't think it played to my strengths/ I made a lot of stupid mistakes.

See you guys in three weeks 🙂

Matteo said:
just finished the exam! wasn't too bad at all- but for my sanity's sake I will see you guys in 3 weeks with lots of write-up/details/scores
Click to expand...
 
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Head up Dr. Shazam! i'm sure you did better than you thought.

Thanks to Donald Juan for taking the time to answer my post so point by point. those clerkship directors will appreciate your organization and systematic approach!
 
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Cali 916 said:
Hey guys! I had a quick question. My exam is in 7 days. I've taken Nbme 6, 11, 13 and 15. I have yet to write form 7 and 16. I'd like to do both but which one would be more high yield at this point in time?


Thank you.
Click to expand...
I'd pick nbme 16. I took my exam on the 29th and it felt like 16 in terms of difficulty. Plus, I had 3-4 repeats from it. Make sure you do the free 150 as well, some repeated from that too. Good luck 🙂
 
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DrShazam said:
Have to thank Matteo. Had a question about satiety, and I was able to eliminate ghrelin agonist because he had written in a previous post, "Ghrehlin makes your stomach growl." I will also do a detailed writeup, but I honestly don't think my exam went too well, so it might end up being more of a cautionary tale/ what not to do.

Wanted to thank everyone on this forum. It was super helpful in designing a study plan, but unfortunately the exam just didn't pan as I wanted/ I don't think it played to my strengths/ I made a lot of stupid mistakes.

See you guys in three weeks 🙂
Click to expand...

I'm glad I could be useful! And I'm quite sure performance varies inversely with how you feel coming out of it!
 
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Dr Dazzle said:
With how important everyone says Uworld is...I'm curious to know why people don't start it much earlier to allow more time to absorb the info? It seems a lot of people wait till dedicated period to start and or repeat it. Whereas it could be started much earlier in second year with classes before other qbanks. Isn't the point to learn what is in uworld, and to use NBMEs to predict a score?
Click to expand...

Plenty of folks advocate this approach. Plenty of others say to save uw for the last stretch because then you're doing the best resource last. I got good results with the latter approach, but it's really up to you.
 
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can someone please answer my q about PDA murmur? I'm going nuts with these contradictions i've found. Now i'm not even sure what to believe. in guyton it says that skel mm Blood flow at rest is controlled by local metabolites -- costanzo physio (big) says at rest it's mainly SNS and during exercise the local metabs override SNS. AAAH what is it?!
 
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Class finished a few days ago but today they had us all get together and take form 11 as a baseline. Got a 213. Being an average dude here (not exactly expecting a 270) I'm pretty stoked about that. Got between now and June 10 to get it up! Well, not "now", gonna take a few days off sine I've kinda had my foot on the gas for a month or so.

But next week! The quest to improve from 213...
 
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There weren't a lot of surprises. MOST of the questions I missed were about stuff that simply slipped my mind, like what enzyme is deficient in X carbohydrate metabolism disorder. I thought the pharmacology was generous since the answers were usually totally unrelated drug classes. I was kind of worried that a GI pharm question would have like five GI pharm drugs as answers. Wasn't really the case.

Some stuff out of left field though. There was--and anyone who's taken this exam might remember since it was so weird--one question where the stem told you there was a staph infection, but then it asked, "which of these correctly profiles the electrophoresis pattern expected?" And all the answers were a series of crazy lines that was NEVER covered in class, haven't seen it on uworld, haven't seen it in first aid...I cannot honestly even begin to hypothesize what the hell that was about. I just picked a random letter.

But for the most part I thought it was straight forward. Being my first real practice exam, I think it made the real thing a bit less scary since I'm sure a lot of the questions I missed weren't impossible...I just plain forgot the answer. But again, the independent study period starts NOW, so hopefully in a month that isn't the case. Or maybe it will be, lol.
 
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Great! Thanks for the detailed review! i take it in a couple of days, so i'll be sure to look out for that crazy electrophoresis Q. good luck with your dedicated study period!
 
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and i've come up with another q - what do ppl do to learn the crazy onc pathways -- like MAPK, ras, etc. Is there a nice video somewhere that explains these well?
 
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What do people do people do to learn glycogen and lysosomal storage diseases. These seem like just unconnected facts with no way to pull it all together. Any tips, or is this just something to brute force memorize?
 
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bulldogmed said:
What do people do people do to learn glycogen and lysosomal storage diseases. These seem like just unconnected facts with no way to pull it all together. Any tips, or is this just something to brute force memorize?
Click to expand...

I would also highly recommend picmonic for this. Their cards for psychiatric drugs, anti-arrhythmia drugs, neoplasms, and, of course, micro are all worth their weight in gold as well, IMHO.
 
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AlmostAnMD said:
Some stuff out of left field though. There was--and anyone who's taken this exam might remember since it was so weird--one question where the stem told you there was a staph infection, but then it asked, "which of these correctly profiles the electrophoresis pattern expected?" And all the answers were a series of crazy lines that was NEVER covered in class, haven't seen it on uworld, haven't seen it in first aid...I cannot honestly even begin to hypothesize what the hell that was about. I just picked a random letter.
Click to expand...

Is discussing questions allowed? IDK. But maybe they were hinting at protein electrophoresis patterns you would see in inflammation? a la M-spike in multiple myeloma? Maybe a spike of CRP or immunoglobulins?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serum_protein_electrophoresis
 
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AlmostAnMD said:
Some stuff out of left field though. There was--and anyone who's taken this exam might remember since it was so weird--one question where the stem told you there was a staph infection, but then it asked, "which of these correctly profiles the electrophoresis pattern expected?" And all the answers were a series of crazy lines that was NEVER covered in class, haven't seen it on uworld, haven't seen it in first aid...I cannot honestly even begin to hypothesize what the hell that was about. I just picked a random letter.
Click to expand...

Wasn't there something like this in the free 150? I'm not sure what it was either.
 
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Raqam4 said:
Wasn't there something like this in the free 150? I'm not sure what it was either.
Click to expand...

You're thinking of this one aren't you. But this isn't about staph, it's about herpes. The answer is A. All vesicles have the same virus.

S4hr5cY.png
 
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Delacroix22 said:
Is discussing questions allowed? IDK. But maybe they were hinting at protein electrophoresis patterns you would see in inflammation? a la M-spike in multiple myeloma? Maybe a spike of CRP or immunoglobulins?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serum_protein_electrophoresis
Click to expand...

Yup! That was it. I've seen electrophoresis patterns like stuff for Hb S/C/A which is pretty straightforward bandreading, but I've never seen anything like that before. Wasn't covered in class and I hadn't seen it yet in review. Thanks.
 
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Hey all, I was wondering if I could get some suggestions on some things...

I'm currently doing the Taus method (already made my notebook and what). I finished Uworld last week averaging at 68 or so. I restarted Uworld on monday and started to do four blocks of questions this past week (obviously yeah I've seen them and have been averaging 90% on them), I've been mostly been focusing on getting the explanations down in Uworld.

I took NBME 15 today and got a 243 and I feel like I'm starting to plateau (because last week on NBME 13, I got a 241, so I missed one less question this week). My test is in two weeks and I guess I'm trying to figure out whether I should be focusing so much time on memorizing uworld versus getting more passes in my notebook in the subjects I'm weakest in (as shown by my NBME today). The explanations from uworld have taken a ton of time out of my day (4 blocks + explanations) so I only have an hour or so at the end of the night to read my notebook (for example, it's taken me 4 days to finish my heme/onc section because of my notes+annotations).

Should I just focus on reading just the learning objectives forthe "easy" uworld questions and skim through the explanations (except for the ones that are really hard/I missed) and focus more time getting passes on my book? I'm taking my last practice next friday (NBME 16) to get a gauge on what I should be getting on Step I.

Appreciate any help you guys can give! thanks!
 
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Hey y'all I figured I'd update the forum on my scores and method of preparation.

NBME 6: 219
NBME 7: 247
NBME 11: 252
NBME 12: 266
NBME 13: 262
NBME 15: 251
NBME 16: 258

Real thing: 268

I primarily used first aid supplemented with rx, world, pathoma, brs phys, and a pharmacology review supplied by my school. Test day for me was all about staying confident, trusting my preparation and going with my first instinct. I thought complete and thorough knowledge of pharmacology and physiology was key to my jump from 219 and really helped me nail the answer on the actual test. Feel free to PM me with any questions.
 
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TuloRocks said:
Hey y'all I figured I'd update the forum on my scores and method of preparation.

NBME 6: 219
NBME 7: 247
NBME 11: 252
NBME 12: 266
NBME 13: 262
NBME 15: 251
NBME 16: 258

Real thing: 268

I primarily used first aid supplemented with rx, world, pathoma, brs phys, and a pharmacology review supplied by my school. Test day for me was all about staying confident, trusting my preparation and going with my first instinct. I thought complete and thorough knowledge of pharmacology and physiology was key to my jump from 219 and really helped me nail the answer on the actual test. Feel free to PM me with any questions.
Click to expand...


268?? My god you and 5 other people in the country. Congrats!
 
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codeviper said:
Hey all, I was wondering if I could get some suggestions on some things...

I'm currently doing the Taus method (already made my notebook and what). I finished Uworld last week averaging at 68 or so. I restarted Uworld on monday and started to do four blocks of questions this past week (obviously yeah I've seen them and have been averaging 90% on them), I've been mostly been focusing on getting the explanations down in Uworld.

I took NBME 15 today and got a 243 and I feel like I'm starting to plateau (because last week on NBME 13, I got a 241, so I missed one less question this week). My test is in two weeks and I guess I'm trying to figure out whether I should be focusing so much time on memorizing uworld versus getting more passes in my notebook in the subjects I'm weakest in (as shown by my NBME today). The explanations from uworld have taken a ton of time out of my day (4 blocks + explanations) so I only have an hour or so at the end of the night to read my notebook (for example, it's taken me 4 days to finish my heme/onc section because of my notes+annotations).

Should I just focus on reading just the learning objectives forthe "easy" uworld questions and skim through the explanations (except for the ones that are really hard/I missed) and focus more time getting passes on my book? I'm taking my last practice next friday (NBME 16) to get a gauge on what I should be getting on Step I.

Appreciate any help you guys can give! thanks!
Click to expand...
Yes, I think you should just skim over/read the learning objective questions that you feel confident on in UW, especially since this is your 2nd time through it.
 
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