Official 2015 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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KushWeedNuggetsStankyLeg

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M2 here. Starting today, I am just going to be reviewing for Step 1 which I am taking next May, and nothing else. Here is my plan:

Oct 23-Dec 31: Memorize FA2014, Watch all of Pathoma
Jan 1-Jan 31: FA2015, Pathoma (pass 2), Kaplan QBank
Feb 1-Feb 28: FA2015 (pass 2), Pathoma (pass 3), USMLERX
March 1- March 31: FA2015 (pass 3), Pathoma (pass 4): UWorld
April 1- Mid May: FA2015 (pass 4), Pathoma (selective topics), UWorld (pass 2), all practice tests

Goal: High number
 
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Hey, I have my test in 25 days now.
I am an IMG, and have been following SDN for years now & would appreciate some help!

I have been watching bits of Kaplan, Pathoma while exercising two times. Did Rx once. (sort of "before dedicated time")

I have done UW once with 60% cumulative unused, then I did wrong only once (so everytime I get it wrong again, I see it again, so multiple wrongs- multiple views). Annotated literally most of UW in my FA. So not much work to do now, just reading and reading explanations.. (though not diligently I think..)

I did NBME 1,2 with score of 208 two weeks ago.

But then.. UW 3rd pass, I see a huge increase in score (around 83% right)..

I feel like I memorized the answers. I do know "vaguely" why other answers are wrong, but I think I have only superficial knowledge!

With the UW score I have now, I should be scoring around 230s in NBME, so I will see tomorrow with NBME7 if I have increased score.

I go through 3 sets of UW per day, so in around 10 days I will be finished with third pass of UW- which leaves me about 15 days till test day.
By the way, do you read all the explanations and why other answers are wrong (whether you got it right or not?)

Do you have any suggestions on what I should do?

With 15 days left, I planned on doing UWSA 1,2, newer NBMES 12, 13, 15, 16, Free 150 from USMLE.org along with READING FA.

I realize that FA is the key, so people suggested going over and over FA. Should I go with this schedule?

My goal is get over 240, but with the NBME score (realistic estimator of test) doesn't match with the UW score I have now, I am sort of unnerved....

Any input would be greatly appreciated & I will channel those help to those who need help after my exam. Thanks to you all!
Do DIT And you will see a HUGE increase in your score! I'm Also an IMG And It was My absolute FAVE resource! I took my exam yesterday.
 
Do DIT And you will see a HUGE increase in your score! I'm Also an IMG And It was My absolute FAVE resource! I took my exam yesterday.
Thanks for your post!

I have 25 days left, and I should need about 3 hours/day to go over DIT in 20 days.. to leave 5 days for last day cramming. Do you think it is still advisable to do so?

Thanks again,

Also, if you don't mind, could you tell us all about how you prepared for the exam in general?
Thanks!
 
Thanks for your post!

I have 25 days left, and I should need about 3 hours/day to go over DIT in 20 days.. to leave 5 days for last day cramming. Do you think it is still advisable to do so?

Thanks again,

Also, if you don't mind, could you tell us all about how you prepared for the exam in general?
Thanks!

Thanks for the input! Would definitely take Free 150 as well.

Honestly, you might be a little short on time, but maybe you could just see the subjects you are weaker on. I really am a DIT lover. Being an IMG, I didn't have the best basic science education.. i HATED kaplan. It just wasn't for me. too slow and boring in my opinion. I did have to suffer through some kaplan vids like immunology some physiology and some biochem. very few and far between though, DIT saved my life lol. if you can do it, do it. the 2014 one is available on torrent sites. besides DIT i did pathoma, uworld and first aid. i also took every nbme online.
 
DIT with that much time left.....you sure thats a good idea? I think DIT is a good first time overview of FA. But with 25 days to go, you would be committing a ton of your time to DIT. As suggested, only do your weak subjects in DIT. Have you watched all the pathoma vids?
 
Worth it to drive ~1 hour to a different testing center to do the free 150? My testing center doesn't even show up when I search.
 
Worth it to drive ~1 hour to a different testing center to do the free 150? My testing center doesn't even show up when I search.

Interesting I always thought the free 150 people always talk about was online at home. If you go to the test center, do they provide answers to the questions and explanations? Also how do you even set it up?
 
Interesting I always thought the free 150 people always talk about was online at home. If you go to the test center, do they provide answers to the questions and explanations? Also how do you even set it up?

Oh.. maybe the free 150 is something different?? I'm not sure really. I know that the test center has a "practice" test that you can take. I think it costs $50 or something and I thought it was 150 questions. Apparently you schedule it the same way you schedule step 1, except on that dropdown box you choose "STP1T" or whatever it is. I know people who have done it a few days before their actual test just so they could get a feel for what the test center is like (noise level, temperature, how breaks work, etc)
 
Oh.. maybe the free 150 is something different?? I'm not sure really. I know that the test center has a "practice" test that you can take. I think it costs $50 or something and I thought it was 150 questions. Apparently you schedule it the same way you schedule step 1, except on that dropdown box you choose "STP1T" or whatever it is. I know people who have done it a few days before their actual test just so they could get a feel for what the test center is like (noise level, temperature, how breaks work, etc)
The free 150 you do at home on your computer! And it's supposedly the same one at the testing centers that they give as a "practice test" 🙂
 
DIT with that much time left.....you sure thats a good idea? I think DIT is a good first time overview of FA. But with 25 days to go, you would be committing a ton of your time to DIT. As suggested, only do your weak subjects in DIT. Have you watched all the pathoma vids?

Thanks for your input!

I did watch Pathoma 3 times already.. while exercising throughout the pre-dedicated time & Goljian during driving 🙂

But DIT online said that finishing the DIT 5-10 days before the test is advisable- so I think if I do 4-5 hours during evening, after the "question solving period" in the morning/ day, I think it is doable... or not. Will skim through those subjects I am comfortable with. Thanks!
 
I wouldn't necessarily say school is a waste of time. A lot of posters here will tell you that Step success really depends on how well you performed and studied in basic sciences. Anyone can UFAP for 2 months and get a solid score, but makes a good score become a great score are the little details that you pick up along the way in basic sciences. I took my Step two weeks ago and I can't tell you how many questions I got right just from what I remember a professor lecturing on that wasn't found in any of the big 3 study materials. I later found the answers in Harrisons or Cecils or Uptodate

That assumes your school teaches what is reasonably going to be tested on Step I, which is not the case at some MD schools who have volunteer faculty and admins who don't know much about Step I. Admittedly probably a minority of schools but I do know of a few.
 
That assumes your school teaches what is reasonably going to be tested on Step I, which is not the case at some MD schools who have volunteer faculty and admins who don't know much about Step I. Admittedly probably a minority of schools but I do know of a few.

Agreed. It helps for the pathophysiology, some pharm, and some micro. However, my school made us memorize ridiculous statistics and management/treatment algorithms that students literally would not remember 2 days after an exam
 
Porque no los dos?

Esta es una buena pregunta!

Porque+no+los+dos+_05696636bb627d53eabcf3db5452a54a.png
 
I asked earlier about this and got no feedback, hoping someone who has done UW can comment.

I am 60% done UW (on random) and I have not had any improvement in my average. I started out getting around 70% correct and I am still there. Some blocks I get higher or lower but overall no improvement. For the past 3 weeks all I have done is UW each day and reading a bit of first aid (plus annotating some stuff from UW). Should I expect an improvement on UW before finishing this first pass? Or only once I do the incorrect/flagged after im done first pass?
 
i feel i am weak and inconfident ,so i am afraid to take NBME 16 and get stuck by a low score , no way i can postpone so if you mean 16 for assessment , how it can help me ?! ,i will loose the whole daay doing it , does it worth ? i took 15 yesterday and got 249 , i am really happy also i feel it may be just beginners luck , so confused
 
i feel i am weak and inconfident ,so i am afraid to take NBME 16 and get stuck by a low score , no way i can postpone so if you mean 16 for assessment , how it can help me ?! ,i will loose the whole daay doing it , does it worth ? i took 15 yesterday and got 249 , i am really happy also i feel it may be just beginners luck , so confused


Have you finished UWorld? That score is pretty high to be a complete fluke IMO. If you're worried about shooting your confidence then maybe finish UW if you haven't yet?
 
Have you finished UWorld? That score is pretty high to be a complete fluke IMO. If you're worried about shooting your confidence then maybe finish UW if you haven't yet?

already done uworld
my exam in 10 Feb 🙂 wish me good luck
 
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You got this razazz. My exam is Feb 26th.
already done uworld
my exam in 10 Feb 🙂 wish me good luck
Good luck to the both of you.
Razazz, if I were you, I would go back and find what my weaknesses were and hit these for the next few days. I haven't taken Step yet but as with any test(esp. Standardized) confidence is important so you gotta do everything and anything to increase your confidence going in.
 
Just wanted to share my experience..

I took STEP 1 today after 2 months of studying, and I can tell you that I am exhausted.

The exam had 4-5 questions per block that were "what is the next step in management" "what is the best course of management" etc. Those definitely threw me off guard. I had no idea, and thus got very nervous and started panicking (please do not do this on your exam). Had a few things I've never seen before. Some absurd questions as well. I'm assuming those were experimental. Some questions had both options which were the right answer according to FA, so I'm not sure what they wanted.... Example. Side effect of a certain drug - liver, and lungs are both key SE according to FA, but the exam had both options. Only asked which is a side effect. Nothing more, nothing less.

The whole exam was clinical based. I had maximum 5 histo/gross images. There were no genetics equations, no DNA biochemistry, no viruses (minus 2 questions), little pharmacology. Max 12 questions from biochemistry, 5 from genetics. Microbiology was only 15 questions (really disappointed). Neurology had about 7-9 (also disappointed- I had one question per block actually related to neuro directly). All the subjects I thought were crucial, were not heavily based. Decent amount of questions on immuno, about 2-3 per block (incorporated in micro or pathology).

It was heavily based upon pathophysiology and anatomy (CT scans) which I took a great hit at. It was definitely NOTHING like my NBME, or UWORLD. The nature of the question was clinical in every aspect. Every single one.

I read everywhere that it was like NBME 7, 16, 11 - no. It was definitely not like any of them. I felt extremely comfortable while taking those exams, but these questions were definitely on another level.

I did have 2-3 questions from UWORLD, 1 question from NBME 15, and one question from the free 150. Those felt nice to see.

I'm extremely bummed out.
I was aiming for a high score - at least in the 240 range.
Not sure what I'll end up with now.
Can only hope for the best.
 
Good luck to the both of you.
Razazz, if I were you, I would go back and find what my weaknesses were and hit these for the next few days. I haven't taken Step yet but as with any test(esp. Standardized) confidence is important so you gotta do everything and anything to increase your confidence going in.
you are right , i am now just focusing on my weaknesses , and i feel confident after the last nbme , i did what i can i really can`t do anything more , totally fed up
 
i didn1t take nbme 7 ,11 ,12 ,16 ,free 150 yet (i was planning to take them offline but time goes up ). do you think i should spare some time and go over them ? i am 4 days away ?
 
i didn1t take nbme 7 ,11 ,12 ,16 ,free 150 yet (i was planning to take them offline but time goes up ). do you think i should spare some time and go over them ? i am 4 days away ?

My suggestion is to do NBME 16, and 7. Have a look at the free 150 as well.
 
Just wanted to share my experience..

I took STEP 1 today after 2 months of studying, and I can tell you that I am exhausted.

The exam had 4-5 questions per block that were "what is the next step in management" "what is the best course of management" etc. Those definitely threw me off guard. I had no idea, and thus got very nervous and started panicking (please do not do this on your exam). Had a few things I've never seen before. Some absurd questions as well. I'm assuming those were experimental. Some questions had both options which were the right answer according to FA, so I'm not sure what they wanted.... Example. Side effect of a certain drug - liver, and lungs are both key SE according to FA, but the exam had both options. Only asked which is a side effect. Nothing more, nothing less.

The whole exam was clinical based. I had maximum 5 histo/gross images. There were no genetics equations, no DNA biochemistry, no viruses (minus 2 questions), little pharmacology. Max 12 questions from biochemistry, 5 from genetics. Microbiology was only 15 questions (really disappointed). Neurology had about 7-9 (also disappointed- I had one question per block actually related to neuro directly). All the subjects I thought were crucial, were not heavily based. Decent amount of questions on immuno, about 2-3 per block (incorporated in micro or pathology).

It was heavily based upon pathophysiology and anatomy (CT scans) which I took a great hit at. It was definitely NOTHING like my NBME, or UWORLD. The nature of the question was clinical in every aspect. Every single one.

I read everywhere that it was like NBME 7, 16, 11 - no. It was definitely not like any of them. I felt extremely comfortable while taking those exams, but these questions were definitely on another level.

I did have 2-3 questions from UWORLD, 1 question from NBME 15, and one question from the free 150. Those felt nice to see.

I'm extremely bummed out.
I was aiming for a high score - at least in the 240 range.
Not sure what I'll end up with now.
Can only hope for the best.

~~~~~~~~

Take heart and hang in there...MANY have reported here that they felt TERRIBLE coming out of Step 1, and feared DISASTER, only to report back a few weeks later that they were pleasantly surprised by their outcomes, after suffering in limbo agony in the interim. Phloston and MANY others have noted that it is the ones you miss or are clueless about that stick uppermost in your mind. And 7 hours of daunting brain drain would exhaust anybody (on perhaps the most important test of your life)!

I checked your prior posts-- you had some good practice test scores. Also, as I understand it, while the Step is not curved per se, you are surely graded on YOUR particular exam relative to others who got dealt that same card, however seemingly unfair that it might have been.

Try to keep your chin up!
:luck: 🙂
 
~~~~~~~~

Take heart and hang in there...MANY have reported here that they felt TERRIBLE coming out of Step 1, and feared DISASTER, only to report back a few weeks later that they were pleasantly surprised by their outcomes, after suffering in limbo agony in the interim. Phloston and MANY others have noted that it is the ones you miss or are clueless about that stick uppermost in your mind. And 7 hours of daunting brain drain would exhaust anybody (on perhaps the most important test of your life)!

I checked your prior posts-- you had some good practice test scores. Also, as I understand it, while the Step is not curved per se, you are surely graded on YOUR particular exam relative to others who got dealt that same card, however seemingly unfair that it might have been.

Try to keep your chin up!
:luck: 🙂


That definitely means a lot!
I woke up in the middle of the night, remembering a question I got wrong and couldn't go back to bed lol.
The stress is intense. ESP the wait afterward.

I'll definitely keep you guys posted on how things go once I get the score.
 
Long-time lurker here (since early undergrad). Just took Step 1 on Thursday (February 5th, 2015) and wanted to share my experience, especially for those who don't want to use too many materials. 🙂

I did all of UW untimed, random order, finishing right before my 5-week dedicated study period (78% correct). I read the explanations and took brief notes. Then, I SLOWLY read FA 2014 cover-to-cover 2x (no annotating) and redid my incorrect UW questions during the dedicated 5-week period. I also watched Pathoma 1x during this period.

NBME 7: 239 (9 months out) (I was eager to see what would happen)
NBME 11: 258 (2 months out)
NBME 12: 256 (4 weeks out)
NBME 13: 260 (3 weeks out)
NBME 15: 262 (2 weeks out)
NBME 16: 269 (1 weeks out) Not sure if others had a similar spike with NBME 16 lol
Practice Test at Prometric: 92% (6 days out)
I forgot that UWSA 1 and 2 existed until the day of my real exam. 🙁

Real thing: felt like NBME 16 in terms of difficulty, question stem length. I may have gotten a DVT from sitting for the better part of the day though. Take your breaks!! I'll update when I get the real score. BTW, when can I expect my score? I heard Wednesday, but which one?

Keys to success: FA, UW, Pathoma (in that order). No surprises there though.

Good luck to everyone taking this beast or waiting on scores!!!
 
Long-time lurker here (since early undergrad). Just took Step 1 on Thursday (February 5th, 2015) and wanted to share my experience, especially for those who don't want to use too many materials. 🙂

I did all of UW untimed, random order, finishing right before my 5-week dedicated study period (78% correct). I read the explanations and took brief notes. Then, I SLOWLY read FA 2014 cover-to-cover 2x (no annotating) and redid my incorrect UW questions during the dedicated 5-week period. I also watched Pathoma 1x during this period.

NBME 7: 239 (9 months out) (I was eager to see what would happen)
NBME 11: 258 (2 months out)
NBME 12: 256 (4 weeks out)
NBME 13: 260 (3 weeks out)
NBME 15: 262 (2 weeks out)
NBME 16: 269 (1 weeks out) Not sure if others had a similar spike with NBME 16 lol
Practice Test at Prometric: 92% (6 days out)
I forgot that UWSA 1 and 2 existed until the day of my real exam. 🙁

Real thing: felt like NBME 16 in terms of difficulty, question stem length. I may have gotten a DVT from sitting for the better part of the day though. Take your breaks!! I'll update when I get the real score. BTW, when can I expect my score? I heard Wednesday, but which one?

Keys to success: FA, UW, Pathoma (in that order). No surprises there though.

Good luck to everyone taking this beast or waiting on scores!!!
Wow......looks like you nailed it. Great NBME scores but you started out with great scores in the first place so UFAP was more than enough for you.
You can expect the results on 3rd Wednesday but sometimes it's on 4th Wednesday.
 
Long-time lurker here (since early undergrad). Just took Step 1 on Thursday (February 5th, 2015) and wanted to share my experience, especially for those who don't want to use too many materials. 🙂

I did all of UW untimed, random order, finishing right before my 5-week dedicated study period (78% correct). I read the explanations and took brief notes. Then, I SLOWLY read FA 2014 cover-to-cover 2x (no annotating) and redid my incorrect UW questions during the dedicated 5-week period. I also watched Pathoma 1x during this period.

NBME 7: 239 (9 months out) (I was eager to see what would happen)
NBME 11: 258 (2 months out)
NBME 12: 256 (4 weeks out)
NBME 13: 260 (3 weeks out)
NBME 15: 262 (2 weeks out)
NBME 16: 269 (1 weeks out) Not sure if others had a similar spike with NBME 16 lol
Practice Test at Prometric: 92% (6 days out)
I forgot that UWSA 1 and 2 existed until the day of my real exam. 🙁

Real thing: felt like NBME 16 in terms of difficulty, question stem length. I may have gotten a DVT from sitting for the better part of the day though. Take your breaks!! I'll update when I get the real score. BTW, when can I expect my score? I heard Wednesday, but which one?

Keys to success: FA, UW, Pathoma (in that order). No surprises there though.

Good luck to everyone taking this beast or waiting on scores!!!

Wow, your background was solid before board studying! I'm going to go ahead and assume you will get 250+ no matter what
 
I asked earlier about this and got no feedback, hoping someone who has done UW can comment.

I am 60% done UW (on random) and I have not had any improvement in my average. I started out getting around 70% correct and I am still there. Some blocks I get higher or lower but overall no improvement. For the past 3 weeks all I have done is UW each day and reading a bit of first aid (plus annotating some stuff from UW). Should I expect an improvement on UW before finishing this first pass? Or only once I do the incorrect/flagged after im done first pass?

I will ask again. Anyone?!
 
I will ask again. Anyone?!
It takes a while to get over 70% so don't be frustrated and finish UW. Once you do more Qs you will learn more and your % age will improve.
Remember, UW is primarily a learning resource.
Take an NBME if you want to know where you really stand and also as a baseline to track your progress in the later NBMEs.
 
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Hey all, I'm a current M2 in the Caribbean and I have a few questions if anyone can help me out a bit.

So I am planning on taking the STEP in about mid-July and am trying to make a study schedule, but having some trouble figuring it out as I have to balance studying for class and for the STEP (although there is obviously overlap). At the moment I'm taking pharm and pathophys so I was thinking that I would keep up with pharm class and put extra focus on the drugs that are in FA. In terms of the rest, I was thinking that I would follow the pathophys schedule of organ systems and use FA, pathoma and UWorld for each. Is this too simplified or do I need to focus in more? I'm just confused cause it seems like such a loose schedule but what do any of you think?

If this matters:
GPA: 94
Goal: 250+

If anyone could help me out or throw some resources at me that would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
 
Hey all, I'm a current M2 in the Caribbean and I have a few questions if anyone can help me out a bit.

So I am planning on taking the STEP in about mid-July and am trying to make a study schedule, but having some trouble figuring it out as I have to balance studying for class and for the STEP (although there is obviously overlap). At the moment I'm taking pharm and pathophys so I was thinking that I would keep up with pharm class and put extra focus on the drugs that are in FA. In terms of the rest, I was thinking that I would follow the pathophys schedule of organ systems and use FA, pathoma and UWorld for each. Is this too simplified or do I need to focus in more? I'm just confused cause it seems like such a loose schedule but what do any of you think?

If this matters:
GPA: 94
Goal: 250+

If anyone could help me out or throw some resources at me that would be greatly appreciated, thanks.


Just one opinion, but maybe substitute UW for USMLE-Rx since its basically just FA in a question bank. You can slowly go through USMLE-Rx over the next 3ish month's then start UW slowly while still in classes and finish UW up in your dedicated study time. That way you get exposed to more questions and by the time you start UW, a lot more of the small details from FA will be drilled into your head from Rx. At least, that's how I felt starting UW after Rx

Since you are from the Caribbean, how long is your dedicated study period?
 
Hiya,

So Iv just done my first pass through FA with DIT. I need to do it again but it seems like such a tedious task doing it (all by myself! 🙁 ) I wanted to know if there was a method anyone applies to going over FA. Just to keep the momentum going and keep it interesting. I will be also be doing UWOrld. Exam is in 8 weeks.

Thanks
 
Hi all, hope the study is going well for everyone. I am almost done with my 2nd year and need to prepare for my shelf for path, pharm, and micro.
So anyone interested in doing Rx and UW quesitons from these 3 subjects over skype? Please PM me with your skype ID. I've done this with others and it was pretty engaging and productive.
Let me know.
Best,
 
Checking in everybody. I take step I in about a week! I had 7 weeks of dedicated study time. Went through FA 2x, pathoma 2x, a little over 1000 questions of Rx with an estimate of 225 and I just finished uworld with an average of 62%....not great but not bad.

My first nbme was a little crappy, just under 200. I've built that up and my last score is 224 according to the CBSSA scale. Taking nbme 16 on Sunday and then cram for a week!

Looking to get into neuro so I need a 210-230 on the real thing. Good luck to everybody here!
 
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