Official 2014 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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If I took my test on 8/19, a Tuesday. Should I get my score on 9/10? 4th Wednesday since it was taken on a Tuesday.
20>27>3>10

thanks
I took mine on a Tues also. Got mine on the 4th Wednesday after the test. Should get yours on 9/10. Good Luck!!
 
I got my results back, I've been using this forum to get an idea of the exam so I think I should try to "repay" with my experience and score.

I used Kaplan notes, I think they are useful just to get a very basic knowledge of the subject but that's it. After that I read FA once and started doing Uworld questions. Overall, I read FA 3.5 times and did UWorld once. I took a lot of time reviewing Uworld questions (a lot!) and writing things that were missing in FA (which helped me a for the 2nd and 3rd read of FA).

Mistakes:
-I lost a lot of time with the Kaplan notes. Too many books. I read them twice but I couldn't rememeber anything after.
- Could have take less time in reviewing Uworld answers and maybe have a second run on all the questions.

Practice Exams:

NBME 11 (after reading Kaplan notes 1st time): 206
UWSA1 (after reading FA 1st time): 224
UWSA 2 (2.5 weeks before exam): 244
NBME 16 (4 days before exam): 247
Free 150: 90%

Step 1: 243

Again (as it has been said many times in this forum) trust the NBME scores. For me UWSA 2 was spot on, but I think it overpredicts your score.

Good luck everyone.

Congrats!
 
Mid July Test Date.
Uworld cumulative 78% timed random.
NBME 15-258
NBME 16-266
Free 138-92% (262)

Real Deal 260+
Prep: Did not study for boards during 2nd year at all, but did very well in classes. 6wks of dedicated prep. FA 2.5x, Pathoma 2x, Uworld timed random once all the way through at 2 blocks a day (made sure I memorized each and every explanation and read corresponding FA section). No other Q banks. Each day was always 10am - 1:30am. About an hour per day to eat.
Test day: Tough tough tough. First 2 blocks went alright, felt like uworld and NBME. After that it felt like it all went down hill. Don't know if it was the fatigue or lack of confidence that took over but I ran out of time on every block. I never had time to look over any marked questions. The stems are very long and it seemed to take forever to get the relevant info out. I'm not sure why the NBME gave you an extra 5 minutes for every section, because I always had 6 minutes left and thought I was good with timing, but on the actual exam I always had less than a minute left! (makes sense). I walked out feeling TERRIBLE, which sucked cause I had to take the COMLEX 2 days later, but as my results show TRUST YOUR DIAGNOSTICS!

Good luck, happy to answer questions.
 
@Transposony how did you find raymond? do they increase score some points?
It's Dr Lionel Raymon integrated cases.
Cannot comment on the score increase since I only attended the sample one hour webinar but was highly impressed since he integrates all the subjects.
If you can afford it then it is probably the best "bang for buck" IMHO.
I have not found anything similar for step 1.
You can decide for yourself since he has an upcoming sample webinar on Aug 26th and you can sign up here.
I know it sounds like a Becker's advertisement but my only interest is passing Step 1 with a decent score.
 
I am confused between pathoma or goljan audios. I did Goljan RR before starting UW. I annotated my FA with Goljan. My current UW pathology % age is 78(87 percentile).

would it be a good idea to do pathoma or goljan audios after UW?
I'd really appreciate if someone help me out with this.

Pathoma would be more high yield but dont underestimate the value of goljan's audios. While Pathoma is more comprehensive and detailed, goljan helps you to think like a clinician. More importantly, he gets you into the mindset of the people writing the questions for the boards. I got through his lectures a couple of times while riding in the car, walking the dog, etc (I read his book too). I think it paid off tremendously. But if I could only choose one, it would probably be pathoma.
 
What's the best source for listening to heart murmurs? This may sound uncanny, but I've listened to easyausculation.org, ACLS and another source and all of them give me different sounding murmurs for the same pathology... I know this sounds impossible but trust me lol.

What do ya'll recommend as the Gold standard? And yes I do know that the question stem may give the murmur away and I'm not gonna spend that much time on this, but doing a quick hearing of each murmur wont take more than 15min.


Thanks.

So... what's the best source for learning the heart murmurs?
 
So... what's the best source for learning the heart murmurs?

I thought the heart murmur questions on step were extremely straight forward, more often than not deducible from the question stem. I don't think it's worth your time to focus on them at the expense of other weaknesses if you know the cardiac area in which it is supposed to be and can crudely "guess" what the actual murmur sounds like.
 
I thought the heart murmur questions on step were extremely straight forward, more often than not deducible from the question stem. I don't think it's worth your time to focus on them at the expense of other weaknesses if you know the cardiac area in which it is supposed to be and can crudely "guess" what the actual murmur sounds like.
I had 3 on my exam. 2 were not bad. Then, there was one I had narrowed down to 2 and took my best shot. But all 3 of mine had context behind them. One of my friends had 2 were he had to know the sound.....no context.
 
I thought the heart murmur questions on step were extremely straight forward, more often than not deducible from the question stem. I don't think it's worth your time to focus on them at the expense of other weaknesses if you know the cardiac area in which it is supposed to be and can crudely "guess" what the actual murmur sounds like.

I had 3 on my exam. 2 were not bad. Then, there was one I had narrowed down to 2 and took my best shot. But all 3 of mine had context behind them. One of my friends had 2 were he had to know the sound.....no context.

Thanks for your response. So what do ya'll think is the best source to learn them? As I had mentioned before, I've listened to easyausculation.org, ACLS etc. and the heart murmurs all sound different. And Zedor, I don't think it would take more than 15min to listen to and recognize the murmurs.
 
Mid July Test Date.
Uworld cumulative 78% timed random.
NBME 15-258
NBME 16-266
Free 138-92% (262)

Real Deal 260+
Prep: Did not study for boards during 2nd year at all, but did very well in classes. 6wks of dedicated prep. FA 2.5x, Pathoma 2x, Uworld timed random once all the way through at 2 blocks a day (made sure I memorized each and every explanation and read corresponding FA section). No other Q banks. Each day was always 10am - 1:30am. About an hour per day to eat.
Test day: Tough tough tough. First 2 blocks went alright, felt like uworld and NBME. After that it felt like it all went down hill. Don't know if it was the fatigue or lack of confidence that took over but I ran out of time on every block. I never had time to look over any marked questions. The stems are very long and it seemed to take forever to get the relevant info out. I'm not sure why the NBME gave you an extra 5 minutes for every section, because I always had 6 minutes left and thought I was good with timing, but on the actual exam I always had less than a minute left! (makes sense). I walked out feeling TERRIBLE, which sucked cause I had to take the COMLEX 2 days later, but as my results show TRUST YOUR DIAGNOSTICS!

Good luck, happy to answer questions.

Congratulation, What a Great Score..
Thanks for Sharing

Any small piece of Advice for Future Test Takers will be Highly Appreciated...
All the Best in your Upcoming Exams as well
 
Mid July Test Date.
Uworld cumulative 78% timed random.
NBME 15-258
NBME 16-266
Free 138-92% (262)

Real Deal 260+
Prep: Did not study for boards during 2nd year at all, but did very well in classes. 6wks of dedicated prep. FA 2.5x, Pathoma 2x, Uworld timed random once all the way through at 2 blocks a day (made sure I memorized each and every explanation and read corresponding FA section). No other Q banks. Each day was always 10am - 1:30am. About an hour per day to eat.
Test day: Tough tough tough. First 2 blocks went alright, felt like uworld and NBME. After that it felt like it all went down hill. Don't know if it was the fatigue or lack of confidence that took over but I ran out of time on every block. I never had time to look over any marked questions. The stems are very long and it seemed to take forever to get the relevant info out. I'm not sure why the NBME gave you an extra 5 minutes for every section, because I always had 6 minutes left and thought I was good with timing, but on the actual exam I always had less than a minute left! (makes sense). I walked out feeling TERRIBLE, which sucked cause I had to take the COMLEX 2 days later, but as my results show TRUST YOUR DIAGNOSTICS!

Good luck, happy to answer questions.

when did you finish doing uworld compared to the real exam. im halfway through. just curious.
 
how do we determine what our % correlates to on the free 138 ?? anybody got a website or knows what % equals what ?

Thanks
 
I find myself hesitant to use pathoma and want to use RR path as my primary resource. I find it doubtful I will be able to do more than FA + RR + class notes + medium robbins(in terms of path).
 
I find myself hesitant to use pathoma and want to use RR path as my primary resource. I find it doubtful I will be able to do more than FA + RR + class notes + medium robbins(in terms of path).

RR Path + Pathoma is probably all you need. I didn't use our class lectures at all. I used class notes to study for the class exams, but for Step 1, RR Path + Pathoma was all that was needed. RR Path is a more focused baby Robbins. There's no need for it.
 
My class has tests on medium robbins. Im not using class notes to study for step 1 path,i meant during year
 
Agree that integration is the key but Pathoma & now Raymon (Integrated cases) does it better since they are always up to date.

Bottomline: Goljan was the king but now there are better options.

I don't know. Pathoma is amazing, everyone's in agreement there, but I thought that for a pure audio resource(that is, something you can listen to while driving/biking/cooking/working out) Goljan is probably superior. He lectures with a lot of personality and stresses important things. I could stay engaged even when tired and on the way home from school.

The king stay the king.
 
Would anyone be ever so kind to explain the Lac Operon/E. Coli thing?
Thanks
Lac operon is like an elephant that likes to sit on a railroad track blocking the train.
The only thing that the elephant likes better than to sit on his spot on the track is peanuts.
If peanuts are available, the elephant leaves the track and eats the peanuts.
While he is gone the train can proceed down the track until the elephant goes back to sit on the track after eating all the peanuts.
 
I don't know. Pathoma is amazing, everyone's in agreement there, but I thought that for a pure audio resource(that is, something you can listen to while driving/biking/cooking/working out) Goljan is probably superior. He lectures with a lot of personality and stresses important things. I could stay engaged even when tired and on the way home from school.

The king stay the king.
Don't get me wrong. Goljan Audio is the only audio available for path and is great for integration of concepts.
The only problem is that things have changed in last 10 years especially now almost every answer requires an in-depth knowledge of molecular biology which is where Pathoma excels.
Goljan Book, however, has everything you need to know for Step 1 and beyond.
 
Lac operon is like an elephant that likes to sit on a railroad track blocking the train.
The only thing that the elephant likes better than to sit on his spot on the track is peanuts.
If peanuts are available, the elephant leaves the track and eats the peanuts.
While he is gone the train can proceed down the track until the elephant goes back to sit on the track after eating all the peanuts.

Okay good metaphor and visualization but what do peanuts, track and elephant represent?
 
Test is on Saturday!!!

Best test taking advice ?? Anything we should bring that is not obvious (earplugs, admission ticket, food)

Time management ??

Appreciate it !
 
Test is on Saturday!!!

Best test taking advice ?? Anything we should bring that is not obvious (earplugs, admission ticket, food)

Time management ??

Appreciate it !

Make sure to bring an extra long sleeve shirt or jacket in case it is cold. I know some folks found the place I was at cold. They just make you wear it the whole time you are in there. You can only take it off outside the testing area.
 
Make sure to bring an extra long sleeve shirt or jacket in case it is cold. I know some folks found the place I was at cold. They just make you wear it the whole time you are in there. You can only take it off outside the testing area.

Oh ok, will do
 
when did you finish doing uworld compared to the real exam. im halfway through. just curious.

I finished mine about 10 days before the actual exam. Spent the rest of the time cramming FA.

My personal opinion on path is that Pathoma and FA is more than what you need. The best advice I can give anyone is to cut down on resources, rapid review is WAY WAY over the top for path. Focusing on knowing your resources well, don't spread yourself too thin. If you focus on actually learning as much as you can from UFAP (uworld, fa, pathoma) you can get a 260+. There is already more than you can memorize in these 3 resources, so just focus on those 3 and LEARN IT WELL.
 
I finished mine about 10 days before the actual exam. Spent the rest of the time cramming FA.

My personal opinion on path is that Pathoma and FA is more than what you need. The best advice I can give anyone is to cut down on resources, rapid review is WAY WAY over the top for path. Focusing on knowing your resources well, don't spread yourself too thin. If you focus on actually learning as much as you can from UFAP (uworld, fa, pathoma) you can get a 260+. There is already more than you can memorize in these 3 resources, so just focus on those 3 and LEARN IT WELL.

Correct me I'm Wrong, But I think that Micro and Pharm only from FA is Enough as well as. + Googling Micro Bug Images
 
I agree. I do not think adding in more sources would really help more unless you are really weak in one area. Say Neuroanatomy or something. If you just wanted to supplement with a quick read. Overall, I think FA, Pathoma, UWorld will get you a 240-250. I think to get over that 250+ you need to remember stuff from class and be able to apply some knowledge. I know my version had enough stuff you would need to recall or have never seen to keep you out of that club.

Images are something else I think would be good to supplement. I know I can remember at least 4 images where I had no clue and had to narrow down. One was a damn worm. I hate those damn worms...........😡
 
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Correct me I'm Wrong, But I think that Micro and Pharm only from FA is Enough as well as. + Googling Micro Bug Images

Yes it's enough. Use a site called sketchy micro, you'll be thankful you did. Pharm is definitely enough as well. Just know it cold. I bought pharm and micro cards that were highly reviewed and they sat there and collected dust. In 6 weeks, its a stretch just to learn UFAP well, I quickly realized this after I started my dedicated time and realized how much money I wasted on other resources.
 
Can someone please explain chi-square , t test and anova ? I can memorize whats given in FA but I doubt that will be enough to answer tricky questions about it unless I actually understand what's going on.
 
Can someone please explain chi-square , t test and anova ? I can memorize whats given in FA but I doubt that will be enough to answer tricky questions about it unless I actually understand what's going on.
I got this Somewhere from the internet and Bookmarked it for later:

I think it's important to know these two first;
1-"Interval variable" (values from where we can drive their "Mean")
e.g. measurements of B.P, Weight, Cholesterol levels etc

2-"Nominal variable" ( different categories or "GROUPS")
e.g.
*Gender ---is a Nominal that has Two Groups (Male and Female)
*AGE-------is a Nominal that we can have either TWO groups (Elderly and Middle age) or
THREE Groups(Elderly, Middle-age and Children) etc

*Race------a Nominal that can have many groups
Two groups (African Americans and Latino)
Three groups(African Americans, Latino and Asian) and so forth

e.g.
*"GENDER"(Men and Women)....................................................(Single Nominal)
*"GENDER"(Men and Women) n "RACE"(Caucasian and African)....(Two Nominals )

e.g we compare Blood Pressure measurements

*INTERVAL variable ("MEANS" of B.P measurements)
*NOMINAL variable ("GROUPS" )

so to compare MEANS of B.P. b/w two are more groups we do these tests

t-Test:
1 Interval (Blood pressure Means)
1 Nominal with "ONLY TWO GROUPS"

e.g. comparing the BP means b/w (Latinos) and (African Americans)

*for a t-Test it will be a wrong statement to say
e.g comparing B.P means b/w (Latinos), (African Americans) and (Asians)....*got 3 groups

Now what's the difference B/W t-Test and ANOVA

t-Test------>ONLY TWO Groups comparison
ANOVA------------>TWO Groups or more than Two Groups comparison

NOTE:these two will give u the Identical results if comparing "TWO Groups"

t-Test................... 1 Interval and 1 Nominal with TWO Groups
One-way ANOVA.....1 Interval and 1 Nominal with TWO Groups

and for the above reason they rather use One-way ANOVA when more than two groups are there to be compared e.g as above
comparing B.P means b/w (Latinos), (African Americans) and (Asians).......3 groups


Two-way ANOVA:
1 Interval
2 Nominal e.g. Gender (Men and Women) *AND Race (Caucasians and African Americans)


---->we do these tests to see If there is a Difference b/w groups ?
t-statistics (t-Test) and f-statistics(ANOVA) will be compared to get a p-value
If p-value = 0.05 or less -----it is said to be "Statistically Significant' and we say that there is a Difference in these Groups.



Chi-square:
we compare b/w "TWO NOMINAL" (with ANY # of GROUPS)
(Note; we are not using any Interval variable here , just the NOMINAL data)

best example...."Testing Drug Efficacy"
First Nominal........(New drug group) and (Placebo group)
Second Nominal ...(Recovered group) and(Not recovered group)


***I think this is all u have to do is recognize what kind of data is presented , how many Nominals, How many groups and If Interval variable is used or not.

1 Interval and 1 Nominal (Two Groups).......................t-Test or One-way ANOVA
1 Interval and 1 Nominal (More than Two groups)........One-way ANOVA
1 Interval and *2 Nominal (many groups)....................Two-way ANOVA
.....................*2 Nominal (any# of Groups).................Chi-square

Good Luck
 
I got this Somewhere from the internet and Bookmarked it for later:

I think it's important to know these two first;
1-"Interval variable" (values from where we can drive their "Mean")
e.g. measurements of B.P, Weight, Cholesterol levels etc

2-"Nominal variable" ( different categories or "GROUPS")
e.g.
*Gender ---is a Nominal that has Two Groups (Male and Female)
*AGE-------is a Nominal that we can have either TWO groups (Elderly and Middle age) or
THREE Groups(Elderly, Middle-age and Children) etc

*Race------a Nominal that can have many groups
Two groups (African Americans and Latino)
Three groups(African Americans, Latino and Asian) and so forth

e.g.
*"GENDER"(Men and Women)....................................................(Single Nominal)
*"GENDER"(Men and Women) n "RACE"(Caucasian and African)....(Two Nominals )

e.g we compare Blood Pressure measurements

*INTERVAL variable ("MEANS" of B.P measurements)
*NOMINAL variable ("GROUPS" )

so to compare MEANS of B.P. b/w two are more groups we do these tests

t-Test:
1 Interval (Blood pressure Means)
1 Nominal with "ONLY TWO GROUPS"

e.g. comparing the BP means b/w (Latinos) and (African Americans)

*for a t-Test it will be a wrong statement to say
e.g comparing B.P means b/w (Latinos), (African Americans) and (Asians)....*got 3 groups

Now what's the difference B/W t-Test and ANOVA

t-Test------>ONLY TWO Groups comparison
ANOVA------------>TWO Groups or more than Two Groups comparison

NOTE:these two will give u the Identical results if comparing "TWO Groups"

t-Test................... 1 Interval and 1 Nominal with TWO Groups
One-way ANOVA.....1 Interval and 1 Nominal with TWO Groups

and for the above reason they rather use One-way ANOVA when more than two groups are there to be compared e.g as above
comparing B.P means b/w (Latinos), (African Americans) and (Asians).......3 groups


Two-way ANOVA:
1 Interval
2 Nominal e.g. Gender (Men and Women) *AND Race (Caucasians and African Americans)


---->we do these tests to see If there is a Difference b/w groups ?
t-statistics (t-Test) and f-statistics(ANOVA) will be compared to get a p-value
If p-value = 0.05 or less -----it is said to be "Statistically Significant' and we say that there is a Difference in these Groups.



Chi-square:
we compare b/w "TWO NOMINAL" (with ANY # of GROUPS)
(Note; we are not using any Interval variable here , just the NOMINAL data)

best example...."Testing Drug Efficacy"
First Nominal........(New drug group) and (Placebo group)
Second Nominal ...(Recovered group) and(Not recovered group)


***I think this is all u have to do is recognize what kind of data is presented , how many Nominals, How many groups and If Interval variable is used or not.

1 Interval and 1 Nominal (Two Groups).......................t-Test or One-way ANOVA
1 Interval and 1 Nominal (More than Two groups)........One-way ANOVA
1 Interval and *2 Nominal (many groups)....................Two-way ANOVA
.....................*2 Nominal (any# of Groups).................Chi-square

Good Luck

It's really helpful. Thank you.
 
i hate myself. I caved and bought pathoma and I've got to say I enjoy it quite a bit(I was pretty staunch on focusing on RR instead). If there was something similar for micro, I'd probably go nuts.
 
i hate myself. I caved and bought pathoma and I've got to say I enjoy it quite a bit(I was pretty staunch on focusing on RR instead). If there was something similar for micro, I'd probably go nuts.

Dude, Pathoma is so much more bang for your buck than RR. I'd say RR is only good for "further reading" use (more useful than reference status, but not gold standard).

I know, I had some weird aversion to Pathoma before I tried it for a long time too...
 
I agree. I do not think adding in more sources would really help more unless you are really weak in one area. Say Neuroanatomy or something. If you just wanted to supplement with a quick read. Overall, I think FA, Pathoma, UWorld will get you a 240-250. I think to get over that 250+ you need to remember stuff from class and be able to apply some knowledge. I know my version had enough stuff you would need to recall or have never seen to keep you out of that club.

Images are something else I think would be good to supplement. I know I can remember at least 4 images where I had no clue and had to narrow down. One was a damn worm. I hate those damn worms...........😡


Hey J DUB, quick Q for ya....You mentioned you had lots of questions on pregnant women. Any chance you can elaborate a bit? Are we talking in the sense of Embryo (Which phases are most susceptible to teratogenic substances etc), eclampsia, placenta previa etc stuff like that? Or some other left field topics?
 
Hey J DUB, quick Q for ya....You mentioned you had lots of questions on pregnant women. Any chance you can elaborate a bit? Are we talking in the sense of Embryo (Which phases are most susceptible to teratogenic substances etc), eclampsia, placenta previa etc stuff like that? Or some other left field topics?
I won't speak for J-DUB but from my friends who have taken it recently and also in general if I had to guess, I'd think it would be the placenta previa, accreta, etc...type of questions instead of the stages of the embryo.
 
For classes, I think RR Path is gold. For Step 1, Pathoma number one.

Idk, RR path incorporates too much stuff for my tastes for doing with class. Sure I've done phys already, but I haven't reviewed it in a long time, so when RR path starts talking about aveolar pressures and stuff right from the get-go, I was a little like " hm well I guess I could get BRS phys out and cross-reference significant parts of this, or I could just buy pathoma and use RR path." My plan is to go through pathoma twice and then after that switch to RR path.
 
I am starting to forget the questions since it has been a week. But, most were obvious and not too hard from what I remember. Just was shocked at the amount. Pretty much all those you mentioned....missed period....what test do you do? Some stuff where you had to know what week things happen.

There were also those questions where a woman was bleeding down there......had a good deal of those as well. And some of preggers questions did not really matter if they were preggers. It was a distraction.
 
I won't speak for J-DUB but from my friends who have taken it recently and also in general if I had to guess, I'd think it would be the placenta previa, accreta, etc...type of questions instead of the stages of the embryo.

Did have a few embryo questions but they were right out of FA. Hox
 
I am starting to forget the questions since it has been a week. But, most were obvious and not too hard from what I remember. Just was shocked at the amount. Pretty much all those you mentioned....missed period....what test do you do? Some stuff where you had to know what week things happen.

There were also those questions where a woman was bleeding down there......had a good deal of those as well. And some of preggers questions did not really matter if they were preggers. It was a distraction.


Lovely, I find those topics irritating to do as well but certainly doable. Thank you, and best of luck for your score! I'm sure you did exceptionally well!
 
Lovely, I find those topics irritating to do as well but certainly doable. Thank you, and best of luck for your score! I'm sure you did exceptionally well!
Thanks. I studied the hell out of that stuff because it was my worst. But, I think I was very solid on it on game day. I do not count molecular bio and genetics.....they will always be my problem.

Appreciate the well wishes. I am just hoping for a 230+. I remembered a few more I missed last weekend so now I am just trying to forget it and move on to rotations. Step 2 is right around the corner....haha
 
Looks like we've got those topics in common. I was actually an economics major in undergrad, and went to a Carib school for a 'premed' program to speed up the process, rather than 2 yrs of science pre-reqs + 1+ years of applications and praying I get accepted. Molecular bio, biochem and genetics were sources of difficulty since I never had that strong science background from undergrad, but NBMEs are saying it looks alright.....for now....lol

Im right there with you on 230 or higher. Being an IMG I know it wont get me surgical, optho and the like, but Im very happy for FM/IM/EM. With a strong step 2 and 230+ on step 1 I think they should be very much within reach with broad application!
Hitting NBME 16 in about a week, fingers crossed for 235 or higher! Been at 230/232 for NBME 12 and 15, or ~240 +/- 2 in UWSA1 and 2. Just need to make sure I have enough buffer for game day screw ups so worst case I can pull my minimum 230. Arghhhh so stressed!

If I recall correctly you were scoring 250's on some of your NBMEs. Dude...lol. 230? With scores like that you should be saying "Worst case scenario would be 240".
 
Looks like we've got those topics in common. I was actually an economics major in undergrad, and went to a Carib school for a 'premed' program to speed up the process, rather than 2 yrs of science pre-reqs + 1+ years of applications and praying I get accepted. Molecular bio, biochem and genetics were sources of difficulty since I never had that strong science background from undergrad, but NBMEs are saying it looks alright.....for now....lol

Im right there with you on 230 or higher. Being an IMG I know it wont get me surgical, optho and the like, but Im very happy for FM/IM/EM. With a strong step 2 and 230+ on step 1 I think they should be very much within reach with broad application!
Hitting NBME 16 in about a week, fingers crossed for 235 or higher! Been at 230/232 for NBME 12 and 15, or ~240 +/- 2 in UWSA1 and 2. Just need to make sure I have enough buffer for game day screw ups so worst case I can pull my minimum 230. Arghhhh so stressed!

If I recall correctly you were scoring 250's on some of your NBMEs. Dude...lol. 230? With scores like that you should be saying "Worst case scenario would be 240".

Not to burst your bubble but, Emergency Med is actually pretty competitive. Even more so then surgery. just saying.
 
If I recall correctly you were scoring 250's on some of your NBMEs. Dude...lol. 230? With scores like that you should be saying "Worst case scenario would be 240".

I would feel better if my test was more like a NBME or even UW. About 40% was just different.....what's the next best thing, experiments, stuff not in review books, etc.....so I had to guess much more than usual. I am not a good guesser. I usually miss 3/4 of my guesses. I actually calculated it out one semester. haha. So, I expect I will score a good deal less and I missed a few too I should not have. Just a gut feeling. I do not feel I got 240+. I do better when I know the material covered and do not have to think....lol. But yeah, I was in the low 250's at the end. But, I guessed really well on NBME 15 and feel that 256 should be closer to a 248 and NBME 13 was too easy and straighforward so that 254 is relative. But, all of them, I cleared a 240+ but the real deal was just too different and went against my strengths.

I come from a business/psy background so I am weak in those subjects. Biochem, I have had 3 times so I should be stronger I just do not care to remember the details. I find it boring.

IF you get a version like I had, then you will understand how I feel after Step 1.

FYI:

EM is much more competitive now. My home program (regular state school) had a 240 average Step 1. 12 spots.

So, I would not be hoping for that. It would be a tough road. I have been hearing averages are above 230+ now.
 
Test in 3 days, just finished my 3rd through FA !

Freaking out, just wanna get it over w at this point!

For pelvic anatomy, is it important just to know what ligaments do what or what they contain (e.g. broad ligament, suspension ligament ) or do we have to like ID them ?

For murmurs should we be able to ID just through sound or will they give some help through the question stem ?

For Biochem is FA sufficient, Im good overall in most parts of Biochem except sometimes the pathways and certain metabolism topics can get tricky?

For images I have been just going through Goljan, any other good resources to refresh images besides that ??


Thanks !
 
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