Official 2015 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[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

 

[Road734]

I've just spent 2 hours on this thread and got way more pointers that I could expect. So thank you all. I really appreciate people giving feedback from the test.

I have a quick question regarding building stamina. None of the practice NBME's are 7 blocks. So how did you guys prepare for a full day test?

( I ask this knowing full well that I can torture myself by setting up blocks of questions on UW or RX, to do immediately after an NBME practice) I have about 20 days till my test and gonna start doing NBMEs, but that was a puzzling thing for me.

Thanks in advance

(PS. incase you are wondering I've done roughly 90% of UW and picked my weak subjects on RX)

 

[callipygian00]

I've just spent 2 hours on this thread and got way more pointers that I could expect. So thank you all. I really appreciate people giving feedback from the test.

I have a quick question regarding building stamina. None of the practice NBME's are 7 blocks. So how did you guys prepare for a full day test?

( I ask this knowing full well that I can torture myself by setting up blocks of questions on UW or RX, to do immediately after an NBME practice) I have about 20 days till my test and gonna start doing NBMEs, but that was a puzzling thing for me.

Thanks in advance

(PS. incase you are wondering I've done roughly 90% of UW and picked my weak subjects on RX)

I don't know about others, but I have not done a full 7 block exam to build a stamina or anything like that. I yet felt just fine on test day. The adrenaline rush makes you power through the exam and you will be awake through the whole thing with no problem. Time flies. Just make sure to take scheduled breaks (at least 5 to 10 minutes between blocks).

 

[seminoma]

I've been shutting the test out of my mind all day but it's starting to get to me. I'm freaking out a bit. Anyone suddenly feel themselves filled with self-doubt the night before the test? Like I'm going to pull a 200 or something. Bleh!

You're gonna kill it man. The only way you get a 200 is if you walk out early!

 

[zheng]

I've just spent 2 hours on this thread and got way more pointers that I could expect. So thank you all. I really appreciate people giving feedback from the test.

I have a quick question regarding building stamina. None of the practice NBME's are 7 blocks. So how did you guys prepare for a full day test?

( I ask this knowing full well that I can torture myself by setting up blocks of questions on UW or RX, to do immediately after an NBME practice) I have about 20 days till my test and gonna start doing NBMEs, but that was a puzzling thing for me.

Thanks in advance

(PS. incase you are wondering I've done roughly 90% of UW and picked my weak subjects on RX)

I likened it to running a half marathon. You never have to do a full 13.1 miles during training but if you do 10 miles you can do a half marathon on any day.

If you can do 200 questions and still feel like you got energy for more, you can do 308.

 

[IniestaDeMiVida]

What's the consensus on doing UWorld incorrect questions? Is it worth reviewing them?

 

[super_mom]

Lmao @ your reply

I'm most curious about your score, Dfib's and Zheng's. In my personal opinion I think these three will for sure do amazing. No offence to the others, mostly because I haven't been as acquainted with you people (via your posts or online) as well as I have these guys. I'm sure you other posters are just as splendid and hardworking.



Thanks bro! You have just upped the ante and now I feel pressured to score a 260+ lol

What's the consensus on doing UWorld incorrect questions? Is it worth reviewing them?

 

[super_mom]

What's the consensus on doing UWorld incorrect questions? Is it worth reviewing them?

i will jus stick to FA because i am sure you took notes on your incorrect…..you can tighten up your lose ends with FA and maybe read your notes from UW.

 

[callipygian00]

What's the consensus on doing UWorld incorrect questions? Is it worth reviewing them?

I highly recommend it. Some of the questions repeat and its usually the ones you got wrong once before. Also make sure to do the usmle official free practice questions they have on the pdfs, they definitely repeat word for word.

 

[andrewsmack05]

I highly recommend it. Some of the questions repeat and its usually the ones you got wrong once before. Also make sure to do the usmle official free practice questions they have on the pdfs, they definitely repeat word for word.

Where do you find these pdf's?

 

[callipygian00]

Where do you find these pdf's?

Its on the usmle website: http://www.usmle.org/pdfs/step-1/2015samples_step1.pdf

 

[syma]

It is reassuring hearing about people working with less than 8 weeks. My exam is August 14th. I am the equivalent of a MS3, so curgently in my primary care/family doctor rotation.

Which means I will have 3 weeks in my summer before the exam.

I don't know the best way to start. I'm also a bit panicky. Eek.

My plan is to read through first aid, then uworld it up. Is that sufficient?

 

[Snowdon48]

It is reassuring hearing about people working with less than 8 weeks. My exam is August 14th. I am the equivalent of a MS3, so curgently in my primary care/family doctor rotation.

Which means I will have 3 weeks in my summer before the exam.

I don't know the best way to start. I'm also a bit panicky. Eek.

My plan is to read through first aid, then uworld it up. Is that sufficient?

Most people agree that in addition to FA and UW, Pathoma is a must. People get very good scores just mastering those three resources.

Personally I recommend Sketchy Micro too.

 

[Road734]

Zheng and Callipygian, Thank you both for answering my question. I like the marathon analogy. I'll do the half "marathons" and update you on how it goes. Best of luck to every one .

 

[syma]

Most people agree that in addition to FA and UW, Pathoma is a must. People get very good scores just mastering those three resources.

Personally I recommend Sketchy Micro too.

So first aid, Pathoma, and then uworld?

I'm considering moving my exam.. Eeek.

 

[mymembernames]

Is UFAP sufficient/good enough for people who have been out of school for a while / have a weak background? Thanks in advance!

 

[pd1112]

Is UFAP sufficient/good enough for people who have been out of school for a while / have a weak background? Thanks in advance!

Depends on how much time you have and what you mean by weak background.

 

[NEEDTOPASS123]

UFAP is good for you no matter when you start. Just make sure to annotate and review. The latter is where people tend to avoid but you must review.
If you have time, i like DIT; but ONLY if you're willing to annotate the important things, it will take time, but imagine Uworld, Pathoma, DIT all in the FA. You've got yourself covered to get atleast a 230 if you can understand (not just memorize) 3/4 of the book.

 

[Mountaineer12]

Hey guys, I've been lurking in this thread for awhile, but never posted. I just finished the test. I have the same "omg I just guessed my way through the most important test of life" feeling as everyone else, but hopefully since that's a pretty universal feeling it'll all work out well. The stems were veryyy long. Each block had a few completely WTF questions that I just had to guess on. Others I could take a guess, but were worded strange or had a few answers that sounded legitimate so it made it hard to know for sure on those ones. Still a pretty good handful of obvious questions so that's good. I honestly have no idea what to expect score-wise (NBME average was a 243), I guess we'll see in a month!

 

[dartmed]

Ok, after like 2 passes of FA and DIT, now I am starting to get what people meant by understanding, not just memorizing the material. Holy crap. FA is brilliant. I am trying to relate every word in this book and it's kind of fun. Or I am just going crazy.

 

[PL198]

Ok, after like 2 passes of FA and DIT, now I am starting to get what people meant by understanding, not just memorizing the material. Holy crap. FA is brilliant. I am trying to relate every word in this book and it's kind of fun. Or I am just going crazy.

yeah the more I go through first aid the more I realize is in there. I'll miss some random factoid and be like " wow that's dumb" and then get around to that section in FA and it's right there.

 

[dartmed]

Right?!!! Omg. I have 2.5 weeks and I am actually excited to take this thing. I am viewing it as a giant puzzle that we get to work on and suppressing the fact that it's so stressful at times. Hehehe

 

[abolt18]

It's done. Feels good to have behind me! I was surprised at how many graphs and charts there were (seemed to be a lot more than practice tests). Definitely longer passages and more lab values so I finished with about 5 minutes left on average (2 with ten minutes left, 3 with 5 minutes, and 2 went down to the wire). Only flagged about 5 questions total, but I'm not someone to flag a lot so that's normal for me. Lots of straightforward gimme questions that were almost slightly re-worded variants of UWorld or practice test questions. Really I felt fine the whole time. To me it felt just like taking a practice test with a few more off the wall questions. No idea how i did but hoping it goes well. Got all my "freaking out" out of my system last night. Going to celebrate by taking my family out to dinner and taking my kids swimming. Tomorrow I get back to it for the COMLEX I'm taking Thursday. I'll check back in here in July when I get my scores!

You think I should expect July 8? Or later since that's when the early May people are counting on getting scores?

 

[sloop]

Ok, after like 2 passes of FA and DIT, now I am starting to get what people meant by understanding, not just memorizing the material. Holy crap. FA is brilliant. I am trying to relate every word in this book and it's kind of fun. Or I am just going crazy.

I don't know if this is exactly what you're describing but last week I started having these sorts of eureka moments where I realize how far I've come.

Towards the beginning of my study period, I remember coming across a lot of things where I was like "WTF is that? That's so specific and I've never heard of this ever. Oh well, I have bigger fish to fry—I'll probably never really learn that." and would move on to focus on larger topics.

Now I'm like "Oh, yeah, Romano-Ward. Long QT, no sensorineural hearing loss, different from Jervell and Lange-Nielson which has hearing loss. Piece of cake." It's kind of cool to see that stuff happen. There's a lot of stuff I absorb just by doing questions and trying to understand the bigger concepts.

I think your brain is kind of primed when you're learning concepts and it can handle a few extra details a bit better because it contextualizes them.

 

[sloop]

It's done.

You said this like you just buried a hooker in the Pine Barrens.

 

[psylocke]

It's done. Feels good to have behind me! I was surprised at how many graphs and charts there were (seemed to be a lot more than practice tests). Definitely longer passages and more lab values so I finished with about 5 minutes left on average (2 with ten minutes left, 3 with 5 minutes, and 2 went down to the wire). Only flagged about 5 questions total, but I'm not someone to flag a lot so that's normal for me. Lots of straightforward gimme questions that were almost slightly re-worded variants of UWorld or practice test questions. Really I felt fine the whole time. To me it felt just like taking a practice test with a few more off the wall questions.

It's always good to read posts like yours that reinforce the importance of going through qbanks and doing practice tests. When I'm focused on doing that, at certain points I also think about other resources I may be missing out that just might cover info needed to answer WTF questions. Sounds like you did great, hope the same goes with the COMPLEX! Good luck!

 

[abolt18]

It's always good to read posts like yours that reinforce the importance of going through qbanks and doing practice tests. When I'm focused on doing that, at certain points I also think about other resources I may be missing out that just might cover info needed to answer WTF questions. Sounds like you did great, hope the same goes with the COMPLEX! Good luck!

Thanks, though I can't be certain I did great. There were plenty of questions on which I had no idea, so I ruled out what I could, picked randomly out of what was left, and moved on. If I didn't know it then, I want going to know it fifteen minutes later.

 

[inanevida]

To people who have taken the exam and used DIT, please help!: How helpful did you find it for the real thing?

I'm debating whether or not to do DIT for a broad review of all topics. But I would rather go through another Qbank with that time, because that is the best way I learn - though it may not cover ALL the topics that I'm likely to see on the boards.

 

[Snowdon48]

You think I should expect July 8? Or later since that's when the early May people are counting on getting scores?

July 8th

 

[dartmed]

Yes, @sloop! Exactly. It's starting to make a lot of sense. With 2.5 weeks left, I have a feeling that it will work out. I can rest assure you that many of my classmates are nowhere near that level of understanding. Idk why, but for some reason, they said they just focused on big picture and ignored the details. More power to them!

 

[Ophthoseidon]

It's always good to read posts like yours that reinforce the importance of going through qbanks and doing practice tests. When I'm focused on doing that, at certain points I also think about other resources I may be missing out that just might cover info needed to answer WTF questions. Sounds like you did great, hope the same goes with the COMPLEX! Good luck!

Was I the only one who literally lol'd at the COMPLEX?

 

[Snowdon48]

So first aid, Pathoma, and then uworld?

I'm considering moving my exam.. Eeek.

I wouldn't necessarily do it one after the other like that. I would take an integrative, systems based approach. For example while doing GI, cover the first aid, pathoma, and UW GI sections. It is hard to sit and use the same resource all day. That is why it is nice to be able to study first aid for a couple hours, then watch a couple pathoma videos, then do a block of UW questions. I think that you will find yourself staying attentive and retaining more that way.

I would at least use the systems approach for first aid and pathoma, some people like to save UW for after they have finished their other resources and then do UW on random.

DON'T push your test back unless you have to. Study for a while and then take an NBME to figure out where you stand. If you are getting close to your test date and your NBMEs are not reflecting the score you want, then you can always push it back.

Good luck!

 

[psylocke]

Was I the only one who literally lol'd at the COMPLEX?

Aha 😛 my bad. Sorry for the spelling error.

 

[usmleraptor]

yeah the more I go through first aid the more I realize is in there. I'll miss some random factoid and be like " wow that's dumb" and then get around to that section in FA and it's right there.

Same thing happens with me. I end up feeling stupid for not having read each and every single point. It's all in there.

 

[eefen]

Took the test earlier today. It was definitely a beast of an exam. I felt like the first couple of blocks were pretty reasonable, then it seemed to get harder. Probably the fatigue setting in. Anyway. We'll see what happens.

 

[Derv]

Took the test earlier today. It was definitely a beast of an exam. I felt like the first couple of blocks were pretty reasonable, then it seemed to get harder. Probably the fatigue setting in. Anyway. We'll see what happens.

On average how much longer were the real questions compared to Uworld/NBME stems? 2x longer?

 

[eefen]

I honestly didn't notice much of a difference. Maybe a little longer. Most questions, or at least a significant portion, don't really require you to spend a whole lot of time reading the stem, though. Definitely more first and second order questions compared to UWorld, I think.

 

[abolt18]

Was I the only one who literally lol'd at the COMPLEX?

Nah, people's phones seem to autocorrect to that a lot. Mine does if I don't catch it.

 

[abolt18]

I honestly didn't notice much of a difference. Maybe a little longer. Most questions, or at least a significant portion, don't really require you to spend a whole lot of time reading the stem, though. Definitely more first and second order questions compared to UWorld, I think.

I would add that I made a conscious effort to read the last sentence of every question first. It saved me from having to read 15+ passages because the question would have nothing to do with the stem. And some of those were really long question stems!

 

[SIGNR1]

Long time lurker, also took it today! Averaged 230s on the last 3 NBMEs, did DIT, Uworld 2x, Pathoma, and FA. Also did the free exam at Prometric and the newer free practice questions they have online (Prometric gave me the 2013 version).

I thought it was similar in difficulty to NBMEs and easier than Uworld. I am glad I did the practice test at Prometric last week because I get really bad test anxiety so that was a small comfort. The day FLIES by. Don't worry about not having the stamina to get through it. I have bad attention problems during Uworld blocks and NBMEs and I stayed focused the full 8 hours. I think it's the adrenaline. I also slept pretty badly last night too lol.

Feel free to ask me any questions (nothing specific!) and thanks for this thread, it helped me a lot in preparation for what it really was going to be like. 🙂

 

[eefen]

This. +1000.

I would add that I made a conscious effort to read the last sentence of every question first. It saved me from having to read 15+ passages because the question would have nothing to do with the stem. And some of those were really long question stems!

 

[cooldoc89]

Long time lurker, also took it today! Averaged 230s on the last 3 NBMEs, did DIT, Uworld 2x, Pathoma, and FA. Also did the free exam at Prometric and the newer free practice questions they have online (Prometric gave me the 2013 version).

I thought it was similar in difficulty to NBMEs and easier than Uworld. I am glad I did the practice test at Prometric last week because I get really bad test anxiety so that was a small comfort. The day FLIES by. Don't worry about not having the stamina to get through it. I have bad attention problems during Uworld blocks and NBMEs and I stayed focused the full 8 hours. I think it's the adrenaline. I also slept pretty badly last night too lol.

Feel free to ask me any questions (nothing specific!) and thanks for this thread, it helped me a lot in preparation for what it really was going to be like. 🙂

Did any of the questions from the NBME or free 150 repeat for you?

Also did you feel the length and type of questions were the same as the free 150 at the practice test center....

I have heard there is this option where you change the white background of the question to the black background is that a NEW THING?

 

[inanevida]

Long time lurker, also took it today! Averaged 230s on the last 3 NBMEs, did DIT, Uworld 2x, Pathoma, and FA. Also did the free exam at Prometric and the newer free practice questions they have online (Prometric gave me the 2013 version).

I thought it was similar in difficulty to NBMEs and easier than Uworld. I am glad I did the practice test at Prometric last week because I get really bad test anxiety so that was a small comfort. The day FLIES by. Don't worry about not having the stamina to get through it. I have bad attention problems during Uworld blocks and NBMEs and I stayed focused the full 8 hours. I think it's the adrenaline. I also slept pretty badly last night too lol.

Feel free to ask me any questions (nothing specific!) and thanks for this thread, it helped me a lot in preparation for what it really was going to be like. 🙂

Was DIT helpful for your exam? Do you think its better to go through it or do another Qbank? Did you get many Step II management-type of questions?

 

[dartmed]

Question: how many pages of FA are you guys able to go through on your second pass per day? I can't seem to go through more than like 40-50 pages at most with like 50q/day. Ugh. Frustrated.

 

[gritsngravy]

Also a long time lurker (since the MCAT days) but first time poster. I really appreciate all the time a lot of you take to give quality advice on here. It has helped me tremendously throughout pre-med and med school days.

Anyway, I have 4 days until the big day. About half or FA to read (for a 3rd pass) and about 20% of Uworld (2nd pass) left. Also read Pathoma 2x during the dedicated. I've done the 4 newest NBMEs so I don't think any more practice tests can be fit in, even though I haven't done any UWSA or the free 150 that some have you have talked about. But I'm open to any and all suggestions of how to go about the few hours I have left, since there's definitely hardly time to do anything at all. I know the question of "what to do with your remaining time" gets asked constantly on here, so I'm sorry for chalking up another post about it. But, I'm pretty lost and want to manage this little time left the best I can!

 

[dartmed]

Definitely finish FA in the remaining days. From what I have heard, you will be surprised at how much you remember from the last four days of studying. Keep the Biochem, micro, and pharm fresh in your head!

 

[aspiringmd1015]

Long time lurker, also took it today! Averaged 230s on the last 3 NBMEs, did DIT, Uworld 2x, Pathoma, and FA. Also did the free exam at Prometric and the newer free practice questions they have online (Prometric gave me the 2013 version).

I thought it was similar in difficulty to NBMEs and easier than Uworld. I am glad I did the practice test at Prometric last week because I get really bad test anxiety so that was a small comfort. The day FLIES by. Don't worry about not having the stamina to get through it. I have bad attention problems during Uworld blocks and NBMEs and I stayed focused the full 8 hours. I think it's the adrenaline. I also slept pretty badly last night too lol.

Feel free to ask me any questions (nothing specific!) and thanks for this thread, it helped me a lot in preparation for what it really was going to be like. 🙂

you found NBME's to be easier than UW? I thought it was usually the other way around, with NBME's being easier to derive at the answer

 

[callipygian00]

I would add that I made a conscious effort to read the last sentence of every question first. It saved me from having to read 15+ passages because the question would have nothing to do with the stem. And some of those were really long question stems!

I highly recommend that too. I did the same. There was no way i was going to finish the exam if i read the whole stem.

 

[stepone2015]

Is it worth memorizing the exact regulation for each enzyme in glycolysis/TCA etc? I know what they are generally and a few important ones that show up in UW all the time, but the vast majority listed in FA I don't know verbatim.

 

[gritsngravy]

Definitely finish FA in the remaining days. From what I have heard, you will be surprised at how much you remember from the last four days of studying. Keep the Biochem, micro, and pharm fresh in your head!

Thanks for the advice! That's what I think I'll do as well. Also, to answer your question..that was my pace for the first two passes for sure. The first pass was probably even a little bit slower, some days only 25-30 pages. But I feel like it's better to make sure you're absorbing as much as you can instead of just skimming pages, so I think it's okay (unless you are only 3 days away like me..)

 

[SIGNR1]

Did any of the questions from the NBME or free 150 repeat for you?

Also did you feel the length and type of questions were the same as the free 150 at the practice test center....

I have heard there is this option where you change the white background of the question to the black background is that a NEW THING?

I didn't have repeats but I did see a few pictures repeated, which of course helped that I already knew what the pathology was (but the question could be asking for a risk factor to get to this disease, or treatment, etc)

I thought that the free 150 was a little bit easier (more straightforward, more first/second order). The lengths on the real thing were longer but they give extra useless info, just read the last sentence first!

I didn't use that option but I saw in the tutorial you can invert colors?

Good luck! 🙂