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 what part of pelvic anatomy should i go for it in high yield anatomy(ex: aretrial sup of pelvis..?)???/
 
I did NBME 11 today, got a 245. I was hoping to have broken 250 since I've done Kaplan qbank, usmlerx, almost two passes through Firstaid (couldn't complete the last 150 pages the second time) and watched DIT videos, along with reviewing my weak areas according to the qbanks, the past month and a half. I got 239 in NBME 7 which I did offline before that. I also did uworld offline off and on with my course work last year.
My dedicated begins tomorrow during which I want to do 3 passes through firstaid, including 1 with a study partner, 2 passes through uworld and 1 pass through Goljan RR + audio. I did Goljan 2-3 times last year during my course work. I want to score 260+ on the real thing. My exam is on the 17th of June. I guess the reason I'm writing this post is for some motivation. I'm pretty disappointed with my score and a little tired as well. I have half a mind of delaying my exam for two weeks. I really want a 260+ since I'm an IMG and I want to apply for surgery.
Quite a decent plan I would say. 245 before dedicated is a stable score, and I'm sure once you get through Uworld a couple of times your score will improve. What did you make of DIT by the way? Is it worth the money and time commitment?
 
hey what part of pelvic anatomy should i go for it in high yield anatomy(ex: aretrial sup of pelvis..?)???/
I used Goljan series--> Gross + developmental Anatomy and annotated w/all of UW and went through it with first aid. Thought it was gold for the real thing. definitely helped my 90%+ on UW anatomy as well as w/UW embryo
 
Quite a decent plan I would say. 245 before dedicated is a stable score, and I'm sure once you get through Uworld a couple of times your score will improve. What did you make of DIT by the way? Is it worth the money and time commitment?

DIT helped with learning, especially at the beginning. Made it easier to go through Firstaid, filling in the gaps in clinical presentations. Doesn't really help with concepts, they basically list everything down without much explanation. But the repetition makes it easier to memorize the material. Although judging from the less than significant increase in my NBME score, I don't think its worth 800 dollars.
 
DIT helped with learning, especially at the beginning. Made it easier to go through Firstaid, filling in the gaps in clinical presentations. Doesn't really help with concepts, they basically list everything down without much explanation. But the repetition makes it easier to memorize the material. Although judging from the less than significant increase in my NBME score, I don't think its worth 800 dollars.
DIT is $800!? :greedy:
 
I don't think I could get through FA by myself the first time without the DIT (I can't just read that book)... But for some reason doing DIT along with FA is making it manageable. If you're focused/motivated/whatever you want to call it to get through FA on your own then do not buy DIT. If you need some structure then get DIT. They really don't give you much more than what FA tells. They do have extra stuff in DIT, but for the most part I ignore it if it's not in FA (unless I think it's important). Also DIT does help hammer in a lot of little details (like pharm, embryology, buzzwords) with its daily quizzes. I'm not that far in, but I doubt I'll regret it, I tried reading FA on my own and all that did was scare me ****less.
 
Just a quick question regarding pathoma.

I have 2013 edition of pathoma(book) which I borrowed from a friend.

2015 edition is out and I was wondering whether its worth buying , I mean are their any significant changes in 2015 edition or would 2013 suffice ?
 
Just a quick question regarding pathoma.

I have 2013 edition of pathoma(book) which I borrowed from a friend.

2015 edition is out and I was wondering whether its worth buying , I mean are their any significant changes in 2015 edition or would 2013 suffice ?

There are a few corrections each year, but they're listed on the website. I doubt the content has changed much, but you can always email them and ask what changes have been made to the new edition.
 
What about the many Firecracker questions that are incorrect...kinda pisses me off every now and then when a question is incorrect/less than correct.. i think around 0.5% or so questions are out rightly incorrect. 5-10% or so are partially correct/incomplete... it kinda decreases my confidence in the system and I find myself trying to proof read each and every question I am doubtful on..

Hi all, decided to post my schedule, resources, and experience here. For the goal oriented, tl;dr - real score >260. If you have questions, will do my best to respond! Best of luck - and remember, this is still just a test and it does NOT determine your future 🙂

SCHEDULE:


January 1st/2014-February 1st/2015: Flag/complete Firecracker topics

February 2nd-March 7th: Finish 1st UWorld (86% [96th percentile], timed, all random)

March 8th- NBME #13 (258)

March 9th-16th: Read First Aid 1st time

March 17th- UWSA #1 (265)

[March 28th- school designated dedicated study time begins]

March 18th-April 1st: Finish Kaplan (90% [average = 61%], timed, all random)

April 2nd: NBME #17 (266)

April 2nd-5th: 2nd UWorld (flagged topics)

April 6th: UWSA #2 (265)

April 7th-8th: Finish 2nd UWorld (flagged topics)

April 9th: NBME #16 (277)

April 10th-11th: Read Pathoma book 1st time

April 12th: NBME #15 (262)

April 13th: Rest and brief review

April 14th: Take USMLE Step 1 (x>260)

SUMMARY OF RESOURCES USED:

-All Firecracker topics

-Pros: great tool for memorization, spaced repetition really does work if you are disciplined and get through your daily flagged questions, best for topics that aren’t strongly connected to any concepts

-Cons: questions are NOT qbank style questions, they do not test your reasoning ability or ability to apply concepts; this is a zoomed in view and you can miss the big picture, which is extremely important too; I stopped using Firecracker a month away from my exam in order to focus on getting into the mindset of NBME style questions and thinking

-Pathoma videos, book

-Pros: good clarity, videos are good for audio/visual learners; good for classic histologic presentations and pathologic descriptions

-Cons: material covered, in my opinion/experience, does not overlap with tested material as well as people say anymore; I watched all the videos once, but didn’t spend precious time in the months leading up to the exam on them - I used this more as an adjunct to my 2nd year coursework

-First Aid 2015

-Pros: material overlaps superbly with tested material, better than any other resource available (note, by this I mean simple recall AND applying concepts)

-Cons: outline format, very difficult to recall let alone apply to questions without stronger foundation; best used as a backbone and a guide for frequent referencing during studying

-Wayne State University CT modules: www.med.wayne.edu/diagRadiology/Anatomy_Modules/Page1.html

-Pros: best free online imaging study tool I was able to find, in my experience more than sufficient for imaging that shows up on Step 1 (which are usually simple)

-Cons: many images I still wasn’t able to be sure about/identify stand-alone, but when combined with question stem and presentation, was able to get most of them right

-UpToDate, Wikipedia, Google

-Pros/cons pretty straight-forward here; I used these resources when I needed additional information I couldn’t get in any of my other resources or when I just wanted fast info; I'm not a textbook kind of person but I suppose that these were effectively my substitution for textbooks

-Kaplan QBank

-Pros: good breadth of questions, good mix of simple and more complicated questions

-Cons: some questions focus too much on details and most explanations are weak

-UWorld QBank

-Pros: excellent explanations, good user interface, questions require deeper mechanistic thinking and understanding of concepts

-Cons: overly focuses on 2-3 step questions which make up only part of real Step 1 questions, with propensity to overthink simple questions that always show up on the real exam; also a relatively narrow breadth of topics covered albeit these are the highest yield topics

-UWorld Self Assessments #1, 2

-Pros/cons essentially the same as the QBank; essentially felt like additional UWorld QBank questions; would recommend doing them time permitting

-NBME Simulated Exams #13, 15, 16, 17

-Pros: Question stems, topics covered, and answer choices felt most like the real exam of all resources; most accurate gauge of performance on real exam (although still not that accurate)

-Cons: No answer explanations - please be aware that although sometimes online forum answers/explanations can be correct, a very significant amount of time they were wrong; can induce stress/anxiety

REAL EXAM EXPERIENCE:

I spent 1 minute/question on the first pass and used the remaining 14 minutes to look over flagged questions (and rapidly skim all other questions). I found that I was able to pace myself about the same as on the practice NBMEs, perhaps ever so slightly slower on the real exam. I found myself wishing I had ~5 minutes more to think about my flagged questions.

I ended up flagging an average of ~10 questions per section on the first pass (questions that I was <90% sure of, I would estimate) and then on the 2nd pass this dwindled to about ~4 flagged questions. Thus, I would say I missed an average of ~2-4 questions per section (sorry I can’t be more accurate and still confident). A very approximate breakdown of types of questions is as follows: 65% applying familiar concepts, 25% direct recall, 10% novel thinking.

I took 2-3 minute breaks between each section, and a 20 minute lunch break. I mainly used the breaks to use the bathroom and to stop myself from thinking about the previous section before moving on to the next.
 
What about the many Firecracker questions that are incorrect...kinda pisses me off every now and then when a question is incorrect/less than correct.. i think around 0.5% or so questions are out rightly incorrect. 5-10% or so are partially correct/incomplete... it kinda decreases my confidence in the system and I find myself trying to proof read each and every question I am doubtful on..
If you know it's incorrect, leave feedback. And mark it as a 5 so you won't see it again until they get it fixed. In general when I've left feedback, I get an email within a week saying the question or answer has been edited.
 
If you know it's incorrect, leave feedback. And mark it as a 5 so you won't see it again until they get it fixed. In general when I've left feedback, I get an email within a week saying the question or answer has been edited.
I have been doing EXACTLY that.. getting like 4-5 such emails on average every day..
Btw... I never knew what you just said..

So if I mark it as a 5 and then they edit it...does it show up on my "Today's questions" earlier....if so how early ? does it come the next day ?

I usually get pissed at such questions and mark it as "Never See Again" and then try to create my own question and correct answer...sometimes if it is a minor error then I just write it in the notes section.. I have a couple hundred notes by now..
Creating cards is tough as the FC system is slow..i am using Anki and have a dedicated deck called "FC Errata" where i add in error questions.. I also simultaneously mark the wrong question on FC as Never see again.. so i kinda have it covered in anki and dont need FC for that factoid..

Please could u answer question keeping in mind that i dont use the Beta version...does it show up earlier on the older version if its edited inspite of me marking it as a 5 ?

Thanks.. I never knew this..may save me quite some time..
 
I have been doing EXACTLY that.. getting like 4-5 such emails on average every day..
Btw... I never knew what you just said..

So if I mark it as a 5 and then they edit it...does it show up on my "Today's questions" earlier....if so how early ? does it come the next day ?

I usually get pissed at such questions and mark it as "Never See Again" and then try to create my own question and correct answer...sometimes if it is a minor error then I just write it in the notes section.. I have a couple hundred notes by now..
Creating cards is tough as the FC system is slow..i am using Anki and have a dedicated deck called "FC Errata" where i add in error questions.. I also simultaneously mark the wrong question on FC as Never see again.. so i kinda have it covered in anki and dont need FC for that factoid..

Please could u answer question keeping in mind that i dont use the Beta version...does it show up earlier on the older version if its edited inspite of me marking it as a 5 ?

Thanks.. I never knew this..may save me quite some time..
Uhhh no sorry if that wasn't clear. I just meant put it a 5 so you won't see it for a long time and they'll likely fix it before you get to it again. My bad. I don't think their editing it changes the priority. I just do it so I don't keep getting hung up on something I know to be incorrect.
 
What about the many Firecracker questions that are incorrect...kinda pisses me off every now and then when a question is incorrect/less than correct.. i think around 0.5% or so questions are out rightly incorrect. 5-10% or so are partially correct/incomplete... it kinda decreases my confidence in the system and I find myself trying to proof read each and every question I am doubtful on..

Welcome to the rest of your live...

Never trust anything 😉
 
Uhhh no sorry if that wasn't clear. I just meant put it a 5 so you won't see it for a long time and they'll likely fix it before you get to it again. My bad. I don't think their editing it changes the priority. I just do it so I don't keep getting hung up on something I know to be incorrect.
No problem..thanks mate..
it would have been cool though if this was actually instituted..
 
over the weekend i am having flashbacks of the exam, and more i look up i found atleast 10Qs i marked wrong 🙁 wtf!
anyone felt similar after exam and how did the score turn out?.
damn it
 
over the weekend i am having flashbacks of the exam, and more i look up i found atleast 10Qs i marked wrong 🙁 wtf!
anyone felt similar after exam and how did the score turn out?.
damn it
Yeah, typical USMLE PTSD (or PUSMLESD).......almost everyone goes through it.
Trust your NBME scores and chill.
 
For those of you who have already taken the exam, did you keep doing questions until the end, or is it better to use the last week to just review FA? I've gone through UWorld once already. Just paranoid that I'll forget how to tackle the questions if I don't keep practicing.
 
I wish everyone good luck taking their Step 1 ! Hope you all rock it. I personally like the 44 Qs block, because I am sure in the real deal im gonna need those extra seconds with less Qs. !

Would anyone care to critique my schedule?
This is my study plan of 70 days or so. I have already started its been a week... but here it is, jsut in case anyone finds it helpful.

Planning on using:
-Uworld for 2nd time + re-doing Wrong/marked
-FA15 with uworld annotations
-Pathoma- should I watch it or read it ? - i have watched it 2 or 3 times durign 2nd year
-Rx qbank 2350 Qs
-Rx videos(not for pathology sections ?? .. bc Pathoma)
-Sketchymicro
-Picmonic (only for some weird drugs/toxicities.. ANY RECOMENDATIONs ? )
-Not really planning on substituting DIT2014 for FA/Rx videos during the time i will be reading the sections and doing Rx.




Dedicated study time:
I plan to take 1 NBME every week.
11 days = Finish up and annotating UWorld into FA

12th: NBME online
________________________________________________________

**Next 49 days: 7 weeks **

-7 NBMEs: Write specific notes of Facts/Concepts I did not know.
Intercalate one offline 1 week and next week an online (Forms 11-17)

-4 wks (24 days)= Read ONE (or 2) chapters of FA along with corresponding Pathoma chapter, then do ALL Rx Qbank for that section studied the same day.
-Might use Rx videos to help me read FA/some give some nice hints and add uworld comments.
-read only educational objective for the ones I get right.
-Mark Guessed and Wrong.(repeat later)
write separate notes of Facts/concepts I did not know (wrong ones)
Aim for 98~ Qs per day.

________________________________________________________
3 wks (18 days ) = All of UWorld [for 2nd time; restated ] - random
- 3 NBME

3 blocks [132q's] per day

Write specific notes of Facts/Concepts I did not know
-Only read educational objective for Right Answers.
-Mark Guessed and Wrong.(repeat later)

49th day - NBME 15 .

________________________________________________________
16 Days left - this could vary depending on if I am scoring my goal number, i could push it back 4-5 more days only though.

From here to test day - Do All NBME's not done yet 1 day, next day review FA/P/notes of things you didnt know
9 NBME left to do:

*if time allows after reviewing 1 NBME: UWorld/Rx Blocks WRONG/ Guessed = Marked -> Test days: if you can do more than 1

Review day - FA/P/DNK
Test day - NBME 6 + Marked UW/Rx
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day NBME 7 + Marked
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day- UWSA-1 + NBME 4
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day - NBME 5 + PROMETRIC
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day NMBE 16 + Marked
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day NBME 17 + Marked
Review day FA/P/DNK
July 12th UWSA-2 + Marked
Mid July - Step 1
 
I wish everyone good luck taking their Step 1 ! Hope you all rock it. I personally like the 44 Qs block, because I am sure in the real deal im gonna need those extra seconds with less Qs. !

Would anyone care to critique my schedule?
This is my study plan of 70 days or so. I have already started its been a week... but here it is, jsut in case anyone finds it helpful.

Planning on using:
-Uworld for 2nd time + re-doing Wrong/marked
-FA15 with uworld annotations
-Pathoma- should I watch it or read it ? - i have watched it 2 or 3 times durign 2nd year
-Rx qbank 2350 Qs
-Rx videos(not for pathology sections ?? .. bc Pathoma)
-Sketchymicro
-Picmonic (only for some weird drugs/toxicities.. ANY RECOMENDATIONs ? )
-Not really planning on substituting DIT2014 for FA/Rx videos during the time i will be reading the sections and doing Rx.




Dedicated study time:
I plan to take 1 NBME every week.
11 days = Finish up and annotating UWorld into FA

12th: NBME online
________________________________________________________

**Next 49 days: 7 weeks **

-7 NBMEs: Write specific notes of Facts/Concepts I did not know.
Intercalate one offline 1 week and next week an online (Forms 11-17)

-4 wks (24 days)= Read ONE (or 2) chapters of FA along with corresponding Pathoma chapter, then do ALL Rx Qbank for that section studied the same day.
-Might use Rx videos to help me read FA/some give some nice hints and add uworld comments.
-read only educational objective for the ones I get right.
-Mark Guessed and Wrong.(repeat later)
write separate notes of Facts/concepts I did not know (wrong ones)
Aim for 98~ Qs per day.

________________________________________________________
3 wks (18 days ) = All of UWorld [for 2nd time; restated ] - random
- 3 NBME

3 blocks [132q's] per day

Write specific notes of Facts/Concepts I did not know
-Only read educational objective for Right Answers.
-Mark Guessed and Wrong.(repeat later)

49th day - NBME 15 .

________________________________________________________
16 Days left - this could vary depending on if I am scoring my goal number, i could push it back 4-5 more days only though.

From here to test day - Do All NBME's not done yet 1 day, next day review FA/P/notes of things you didnt know
9 NBME left to do:

*if time allows after reviewing 1 NBME: UWorld/Rx Blocks WRONG/ Guessed = Marked -> Test days: if you can do more than 1

Review day - FA/P/DNK
Test day - NBME 6 + Marked UW/Rx
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day NBME 7 + Marked
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day- UWSA-1 + NBME 4
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day - NBME 5 + PROMETRIC
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day NMBE 16 + Marked
Review day FA/P/DNK
Test day NBME 17 + Marked
Review day FA/P/DNK
July 12th UWSA-2 + Marked
Mid July - Step 1
You already created a thread with the same exact post less than half hour ago. Please do not do this.
 
How important is it to do an NBME? I've already done UW form 1 and got a 242 and I don't have time to do an NBME as part of my schedule. I want a 235-240 anyway so I'm not disappointed by the score. I'm taking the exam on the 21st.
 
How important is it to do an NBME? I've already done UW form 1 and got a 242 and I don't have time to do an NBME as part of my schedule. I want a 235-240 anyway so I'm not disappointed by the score. I'm taking the exam on the 21st.
I would argue that at least one NBME is essential to both guide your study process and to serve as a predictor. The concensus regarding the predictabilty of UWSAs seem to be that they tend to overpredict. Also, I think it is important to see how the NBME questions are written as they differ from the rest of the qbanks.
 
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But seriously...what do you think is the most I could do in 4weeks?
I still have yet to go through neuro and biochem a second time is first Aid, and it turns out I'm not as good on those as I thought I was.
 
But seriously...what do you think is the most I could do in 4weeks?
I still have yet to go through neuro and biochem a second time is first Aid, and it turns out I'm not as good on those as I thought I was.
I think you should take into consideration how many careless errors you made on that practice exam. With my first NBME I was kind of disappointed with my score. But after reviewing the answers I noticed I made a lot of careless mistakes and changed a lot of correct answers to wrong ones. By increasing my focus while doing questions and sticking with my first choice almost all the time I saw my NBME score go up by 15 points in 2 weeks. The fact that you have 4 weeks makes a 40 pt increase a reach but within the realm of possibility. Just focus on your weaknesses and trust your gut.
 
No one really knows and any ideas that are offered are strictly anecdotal. Once you get up to 1 SD above the mean and beyond, I think it comes down to test taking skills and luck. There isn't a simple linear relationship between time spent studying and score achieved.
 
How important is it to do an NBME? I've already done UW form 1 and got a 242 and I don't have time to do an NBME as part of my schedule. I want a 235-240 anyway so I'm not disappointed by the score. I'm taking the exam on the 21st.
I'd definitely recommend doing an NBME. I thought 15, 16, and 17 felt the most similar to the real deal. It gives you a better idea of what the questions are like. I would also recommend paying the extra 10 bucks to be able to review the questions you missed. This helped me realize that most of my mistakes were mental errors, and not lack of knowledge.
 
Just took a UWSE1 and got a 234. You guys think I can go up 40 points in 4 weeks?
A lot can change in 4 weeks, and a 40 point increase is possible, though not common. Just study your hardest and go in to your test knowing you did your best to prepare.
 
The fact that you have 4 weeks makes a 40 pt increase a reach but within the realm of possibility. Just focus on your weaknesses and trust your gut.

Lol. Maybe going from 200-240 in 4 weeks I'd agree with. But 234 to 274? And with the 234 being UWSA? Regardless your advice is good, I just thought that calling getting a 274 just a "reach" was funny.
 
So I have 3 weeks left until my exam. I've gone through Rx, UWorldx2, both UWSAs, and 3 NBMEs. I need to get another qbank to blaze through while I comb FA again. Is Kaplan my only option or are there better ones out there?
 
So I have 3 weeks left until my exam. I've gone through Rx, UWorldx2, both UWSAs, and 3 NBMEs. I need to get another qbank to blaze through while I comb FA again. Is Kaplan my only option or are there better ones out there?

I can't speak to its usefulness in terms of Step 1 prep in particular, but I honestly don't have the same distaste for Kaplan Qbank as some others do. Yeah some of it is nitpicky but it's a good way to hammer down material and I find their explanations to be pretty good. I use it to prep for our NBME-style school exams and it's very helpful. It also does have page references to First Aid and stuff which should help you comb through FA more.
 
So I have 3 weeks left until my exam. I've gone through Rx, UWorldx2, both UWSAs, and 3 NBMEs. I need to get another qbank to blaze through while I comb FA again. Is Kaplan my only option or are there better ones out there?
I would do all the NBMEs, the old ones included, (controversial) and look into the concepts while hammering FA.
 
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