Official 2015 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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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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Greenberg702 said:
Perhaps. I think people are freaked out that students with accelerated curriculums might have a "leg up" in answering the clinical next step questions.
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And they'll have a leg down in answering the basic science stuff. I doubt it makes an appreciable difference.
 
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I didn't get a single "next step" question on my exam. In fact mine was loaded with basic science. People need to stop freaking out about 1.5 - 2 year preclinical...work with what you have and study hard.

Unless you have 100% of the main resources committed to memory, using step 2 prep/shelf exam books is a complete waste of time.
 
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Is there any consensus on which of the NBME forms are most predictive of the difficulty of the actual test?

I took NBME 11 21 days out, 234, NBME 12 12 days out, 258.

I have 11 days until my test and still ~800 UWorld questions to do (30% of the Q Bank) and would like to sit down and do another pass of First Aid if possible.

Any thoughts on how I should structure my last 11 days? Is it worth doing any more practice tests at this point, or should I just stick to U World and FA?
 
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smithers12 said:
Is there any consensus on which of the NBME forms are most predictive of the difficulty of the actual test?

I took NBME 11 21 days out, 234, NBME 12 12 days out, 258.

I have 11 days until my test and still ~800 UWorld questions to do (30% of the Q Bank) and would like to sit down and do another pass of First Aid if possible.

Any thoughts on how I should structure my last 11 days? Is it worth doing any more practice tests at this point, or should I just stick to U World and FA?
Click to expand...
Uworld and FA. Goal 1 should be finishing uworld. Number 2 anot her pass of FA. If you have any time left after that hit pathoma on your weaknesses
 
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Hey guys! I sat for the step 1 on 30/7 and today I checked that my permit is gone...should I expect my results this Wednesday? It seems weird! Thank you
 
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Drseriff said:
Hey guys! I sat for the step 1 on 30/7 and today I checked that my permit is gone...should I expect my results this Wednesday? It seems weird! Thank you
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Does your eligibility period to sit for the exam include August? If not, that might be why it's gone.
 
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Drseriff said:
The worst is that I cannot predict my performance. I remember only 40-50 qs.
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Don't worry. Like @cs24 and @mcloaf have already mentioned, having a short memory on test day is a good thing. Saves you 3 weeks of needless worrying 😀 Nothing you can do about it anyway, so might as well enjoy life.
 
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Took it last Thursday... Seriously wtf was that?!?!? Flagged like 10-12 per block, kept running outta time, had only like 3 mins to review all my flagged questions, which I barely had a chance to get to. Right when I started, I was like "Dear God :uhno:...". Jesus, Allah Buddha... Captain Planet someone, let me pass.
 
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RLSGrasshopper said:
Took it last Thursday... Seriously wtf was that?!?!? Flagged like 10-12 per block, kept running outta time, had only like 3 mins to review all my flagged questions, which I barely had a chance to get to. Right when I started, I was like "Dear God :uhno:...". Jesus, Allah Buddha... Captain Planet someone, let me pass.
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why were you short on time? were the question stems longer than you anticipated, or were the questions very difficult that you had to spend longer than anticipated to think about the answers?
 
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Macaroon_Berry said:
why were you short on time? were the question stems longer than you anticipated, or were the questions very difficult that you had to spend longer than anticipated to think about the answers?
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It was nerves, difficulty, and trying to figure out what they were trying to ask. There were questions I was not used to seeing as much, mainly "next step in management" type. It was like every other question was a "next step in management" question
 
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I didn't have a time issue but it's not the stem lengths that hinder your progress throughout the exam. It's deciphering their poor english and word choices in the question and answer choices. I almost couldn't tell whether they were testing me on medicine or reading comprehension :stop:
 
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So best of luck to all of us today...it has been the most difficult 3 weeks of my life...fretting over my wrong answers and desperately searching for ambiguous ones🙁... but whatever the result is, it's not the end of the world....we have another shot at excellence in step 2.......😉
 
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Wait, scores have been released already ? I'm expecting my score today, but haven't received any email yet despite my permit link being gone. What's the deal ??
 
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ijongoo said:
Hi guys. Long time lurker here; thought I would offer some insight into my exam experience:

Difficulty: I'd say difficulty of exam is in between NBME and UWORLD, leaning towards NBME side, which I thought was a good thing as UWORLD goes for those tiny stupid details no one cares about. I think what was frustrating about the exam wasn't really retrieving obscure details from memory, but just how poorly worded some question stems and/or answer choices were or how close the meaning some answer choices were to each other that you just had to make your best guess and move on. That's how they test whether you know your ish or not. As for the long stems and foreign "I've never seen this before" material, this is totally exaggerated on SDN! The question stems are just as long as those in NBME, and sure you will only have 1-3 questions per block that are considered foreign but that's it. There will be a handful of "research" type questions (interpreting graphs, knock out mice interpretations, etc.)

Things I would have done differently: Even though UFAP is the 100% way to go, I would have also used a resource out of UFAP for Anatomy. FA and UWORLD are horrible for anatomy preparation. I'm not exactly sure which resource I would have used because BRS Anatomy is great but so dense for dedicated time period. If you have the time though, go through BRS Anatomy. People often worry about Biochemistry and Biostats/Behavioral Sciences but FA is totally enough for those--trust me, they will be the gimme points.

I'll post my practice exam #s once my score comes out. Let me know if you got questions. Happy studying! 😎
Click to expand...

IMG
Resources: UFAP & my own school notes
NBMEs and UWAs: All were in the 240s
UWORLD: 1x only-75%; Pathoma - 1.5x
Step 1: 238 (Goal was 240, but idgaf)

Tips:
- UFAP is good enough. Any outside sources can get you the extra 5 -10 points but I'm not about that life. Try to use study notes you used during school so that it's easier to recall rather than using brand new formatted resources in dedicated.
- MOST important thing you can do is study hard 2nd year. You have no idea how many things you begin to recall from random powerpoint slides or things professors stressed in class when you are taking the exam.
- BUY the online NBMEs. My weaknesses on those were exactly my weaknesses on my Step. Biostats can kiss my ass.

To those still waiting on their scores, I remember counting 20x mistakes on gimme questions, so don't fret.
 
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cryoablation said:
Okay I have seen a lot of posts on here the past few weeks so I thought I would give mine a shot. Sorry for the long read.

Background: I am an American studying at a medical school in the Caribbean. I had a 97.5% cumulative average in the basic science years and I felt the curriculum was extremely rigorous and prepared us well for the exam as long as you remained engaged throughout. I got a 35 on the MCAT also with only a 10 on verbal (for those who think the verbal section means everything for step 1)

Initial thoughts: I know many who are on here are looking to see how people are using their dedicated study period and I want to reiterate what many people have said before me: CONSISTENTLY LEARNING AND DOING WELL IN CLASSES IS FAR AND AWAY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. If you are a first year student or about to start medical school then get your @$$ in gear and rev it up. I have met countless and I mean COUNTLESS people who say "grades aren't a big deal as long as you crush Step 1". If this is you then you are being completely delusional and you are hurting yourself. If this mantra is a coping mechanism to help you get by because you are already working your hardest then I understand, but try and find ways to improve your performance and understanding of medicine prior to your dedicated study period. Yes there are instances where people at the bottom of their class get randomly high scores but this is an extreme minority. Be consistently excellent and/or give consistently excellent effort and you put yourself in the position to score high.

CBSE: 99/260+. This was pretty shocking. I had focused almost solely on classes and clinical research in the spring semester whereas most of my classmates ditched every class and were going through bootlegged Kaplan and DIT videos. Despite almost everyone doing this the average at our school was about 185. Many people in my school do pretty well in classes because their friends pass down answers etc. and they didn't bother to really LEARN the material. I think this drives home the fact that consistently remaining engaged in school and learning at a good pace is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.

Preparation: 6.5 weeks of dedicated study. I chose to use Doctors in Training (seems very rare here in this thread which is weird because I found it VERY helpful). First Aid I had lightly annotated from classes and I referred to it constantly, but I cannot put a number on how many passes through it I made. UWorld 1 pass along with going over marked/missed questions in high yield topics. Pathoma I used mostly as a reference to reinforce certain topics. I also read BRS physio for renal only because sometimes I felt shaky on that. I took my test on 7/7 and I basically took most of July 4th weekend off (only light studying in the mornings).

UWorld cumulative (89%) mostly random sometimes systems based

I waited until I was finished going through DIT to start taking practice tests

NBME 16 (2.5 weeks out): 273
NBME 15 (2 weeks out): 269
NBME 17 (1.5 weeks out): 271
NBME 13 (1 week out): 275
UWSA1 (1 week out): 265+
UWSA2 (0.5 weeks out): 265+

Real thing: 269 >99th percentile
(took it on July 7th and heard back at 8:30 AM this morning)


After exam: I felt absolutely terrible. Step 1 was unlike anything I had ever seen or felt in my life. The questions were harder and from much more obscure topics, I was more unsure and obviously I felt more sensitive about possible mistakes because I knew it was the real deal. Had way less time than I ever had left on UWorld or NBME blocks. I made 5 horrific mistakes that I switched from right to wrong (but I also switched plenty from wrong to right so oh well) and I also confirmed another 7 missed after the exam (most of which I should have known) because I remembered. So that was 12 and I wrote down about another 10 that I may have gotten wrong, but could not confirm because some questions are hard to know what they wanted. For those coming out of the exam if you have very high NBME scores and you come out kicking yourself over some mistakes don't get too down. But that highly depends on the fact that you do not miss those 1st order questions that you answer real fast and forget about later. On NBME practice tests I almost never got any wrong that I hadn't marked so if that is happening to you a lot then yeah big unforced mistakes may be a larger problem.

I know people say not to think about it, but for me it helped me to write down what I knew I got wrong so I could get it out of my head instead of letting it stew around. If you are one to recount mistakes in your head over and over consider writing them down to get them out and move on. Throughout school I was always one to try and figure out wrong questions because then I had a better idea about what I would get AND then those were concepts that I would never forget again which is helpful. Many people wouldn't think about the test then get a score and not know what gaps were in their knowledge (they didn't release the correct answers to our tests).

I was really hoping to break that 270 barrier since most of my NBME scores were around there but considering my extra few mistakes and my terrible feeling afterward I am getting happier and happier with my score every time I think about it. It was only a few points below my NBME average so I think they are good predictors.

Analysis:
-FA: Obviously is the backbone to every study program. However, people on here have said that first aid is everything and I very much disagree. Unless your goal is only to pass. I do agree that if it is in FA then you should probably know it, but I don't think that it is EVERYTHING unless you want to simplify your life and max yourself out at a mediocre score

-UWorld: Everyone has covered this. One thing I wish they would do is literally put more vital signs and other information (height, weight, BMI, head circumference, etc.) because almost every question on Step 1 had these even though it was often completely irrelevant. It just always made you read and think for an extra 5-10 seconds which adds up and would give you a better gauge of timing.

-Classes/anatomy: Maybe I just got a strange form for my exam...but I had 50+ anatomy questions. Literally more than 50. And probably MORE than half were not in UFAP. A lot of these things weren't particularly difficult, but when you're hoping to draw from your strengths during this important of an exam it's worrying to see these questions over and over and over. I'm pretty sure I got almost all of them right, but that was only because I was able to reason out based on my knowledge from the first semester of medical school because I LEARNED it. This along with the large amount of integrative knowledge and other stuff I am pretty sure that my knowledge from class alone WITHOUT HELP FROM UFAP may have been worth around 20-30 points. That is a ton. Instincts and deeper knowledge that I developed over the past two years got me to pick the right answer (even if I was unsure) on so many more questions than I ended up getting wrong. Yeah you will pass if you're First Aid King, but the finer points of your score may come from your hard work in advance. I know people have been asking what to do for anatomy and I am not sure what I would have done differently to better prepare, but looking at Netter's for just 10 minutes a day during dedicated may not be a terrible plan.

-DIT: Honestly I did not feel like it was them holding your hand through first aid. I thought they did a fantastic job with the videos and study guide and it SUPPLEMENTED first aid wonderfully. That along with the high yield reviews they give before and after each topic drives home some of those nitty gritty details you hate staring at in FA for hours. I believe that the info that was included in DIT that was not in FA may have gotten me an extra 10 points. Add that onto the unquantifiable help they gave in reviewing the more esoteric topics that are in First Aid. Maybe you don't think that's worth it, but I wanted as high of a score possible and if you didn't do well in your classes then this may help even more. Think of it as an investment in your future. I think it was absolutely essential to me performing well.

-Pathoma: Used this for pathology during MS2, but was not a giant part of my Step 1 preparation. Read most of it once (some chapters twice if I wanted further comprehension). Great resource, but I am skeptical about how much it really helped me during dedicated prep. Once again drives home the fact that learning it the first time well is key.

Sorry for such a long post. Just wanted to get all my thoughts out there. Even if you are a Caribbean student or FMG you can still score very high if you are passionate and dedicated throughout your studies. For those of you who are getting out of the exam: GREAT JOB MAKING IT THROUGH. You can make plenty of silly mistakes and still get close to your target score. Consider writing it out and getting it out of your head that way if suppression isn't your strong suit.
Click to expand...
 
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cryoablation said:
Okay I have seen a lot of posts on here the past few weeks so I thought I would give mine a shot. Sorry for the long read.

Background: I am an American studying at a medical school in the Caribbean. I had a 97.5% cumulative average in the basic science years and I felt the curriculum was extremely rigorous and prepared us well for the exam as long as you remained engaged throughout. I got a 35 on the MCAT also with only a 10 on verbal (for those who think the verbal section means everything for step 1)

Initial thoughts: I know many who are on here are looking to see how people are using their dedicated study period and I want to reiterate what many people have said before me: CONSISTENTLY LEARNING AND DOING WELL IN CLASSES IS FAR AND AWAY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. If you are a first year student or about to start medical school then get your @$$ in gear and rev it up. I have met countless and I mean COUNTLESS people who say "grades aren't a big deal as long as you crush Step 1". If this is you then you are being completely delusional and you are hurting yourself. If this mantra is a coping mechanism to help you get by because you are already working your hardest then I understand, but try and find ways to improve your performance and understanding of medicine prior to your dedicated study period. Yes there are instances where people at the bottom of their class get randomly high scores but this is an extreme minority. Be consistently excellent and/or give consistently excellent effort and you put yourself in the position to score high.

CBSE: 99/260+. This was pretty shocking. I had focused almost solely on classes and clinical research in the spring semester whereas most of my classmates ditched every class and were going through bootlegged Kaplan and DIT videos. Despite almost everyone doing this the average at our school was about 185. Many people in my school do pretty well in classes because their friends pass down answers etc. and they didn't bother to really LEARN the material. I think this drives home the fact that consistently remaining engaged in school and learning at a good pace is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.

Preparation: 6.5 weeks of dedicated study. I chose to use Doctors in Training (seems very rare here in this thread which is weird because I found it VERY helpful). First Aid I had lightly annotated from classes and I referred to it constantly, but I cannot put a number on how many passes through it I made. UWorld 1 pass along with going over marked/missed questions in high yield topics. Pathoma I used mostly as a reference to reinforce certain topics. I also read BRS physio for renal only because sometimes I felt shaky on that. I took my test on 7/7 and I basically took most of July 4th weekend off (only light studying in the mornings).

UWorld cumulative (89%) mostly random sometimes systems based

I waited until I was finished going through DIT to start taking practice tests

NBME 16 (2.5 weeks out): 273
NBME 15 (2 weeks out): 269
NBME 17 (1.5 weeks out): 271
NBME 13 (1 week out): 275
UWSA1 (1 week out): 265+
UWSA2 (0.5 weeks out): 265+

Real thing: 269 >99th percentile
(took it on July 7th and heard back at 8:30 AM this morning)


After exam: I felt absolutely terrible. Step 1 was unlike anything I had ever seen or felt in my life. The questions were harder and from much more obscure topics, I was more unsure and obviously I felt more sensitive about possible mistakes because I knew it was the real deal. Had way less time than I ever had left on UWorld or NBME blocks. I made 5 horrific mistakes that I switched from right to wrong (but I also switched plenty from wrong to right so oh well) and I also confirmed another 7 missed after the exam (most of which I should have known) because I remembered. So that was 12 and I wrote down about another 10 that I may have gotten wrong, but could not confirm because some questions are hard to know what they wanted. For those coming out of the exam if you have very high NBME scores and you come out kicking yourself over some mistakes don't get too down. But that highly depends on the fact that you do not miss those 1st order questions that you answer real fast and forget about later. On NBME practice tests I almost never got any wrong that I hadn't marked so if that is happening to you a lot then yeah big unforced mistakes may be a larger problem.

I know people say not to think about it, but for me it helped me to write down what I knew I got wrong so I could get it out of my head instead of letting it stew around. If you are one to recount mistakes in your head over and over consider writing them down to get them out and move on. Throughout school I was always one to try and figure out wrong questions because then I had a better idea about what I would get AND then those were concepts that I would never forget again which is helpful. Many people wouldn't think about the test then get a score and not know what gaps were in their knowledge (they didn't release the correct answers to our tests).

I was really hoping to break that 270 barrier since most of my NBME scores were around there but considering my extra few mistakes and my terrible feeling afterward I am getting happier and happier with my score every time I think about it. It was only a few points below my NBME average so I think they are good predictors.

Analysis:
-FA: Obviously is the backbone to every study program. However, people on here have said that first aid is everything and I very much disagree. Unless your goal is only to pass. I do agree that if it is in FA then you should probably know it, but I don't think that it is EVERYTHING unless you want to simplify your life and max yourself out at a mediocre score

-UWorld: Everyone has covered this. One thing I wish they would do is literally put more vital signs and other information (height, weight, BMI, head circumference, etc.) because almost every question on Step 1 had these even though it was often completely irrelevant. It just always made you read and think for an extra 5-10 seconds which adds up and would give you a better gauge of timing.

-Classes/anatomy: Maybe I just got a strange form for my exam...but I had 50+ anatomy questions. Literally more than 50. And probably MORE than half were not in UFAP. A lot of these things weren't particularly difficult, but when you're hoping to draw from your strengths during this important of an exam it's worrying to see these questions over and over and over. I'm pretty sure I got almost all of them right, but that was only because I was able to reason out based on my knowledge from the first semester of medical school because I LEARNED it. This along with the large amount of integrative knowledge and other stuff I am pretty sure that my knowledge from class alone WITHOUT HELP FROM UFAP may have been worth around 20-30 points. That is a ton. Instincts and deeper knowledge that I developed over the past two years got me to pick the right answer (even if I was unsure) on so many more questions than I ended up getting wrong. Yeah you will pass if you're First Aid King, but the finer points of your score may come from your hard work in advance. I know people have been asking what to do for anatomy and I am not sure what I would have done differently to better prepare, but looking at Netter's for just 10 minutes a day during dedicated may not be a terrible plan.

-DIT: Honestly I did not feel like it was them holding your hand through first aid. I thought they did a fantastic job with the videos and study guide and it SUPPLEMENTED first aid wonderfully. That along with the high yield reviews they give before and after each topic drives home some of those nitty gritty details you hate staring at in FA for hours. I believe that the info that was included in DIT that was not in FA may have gotten me an extra 10 points. Add that onto the unquantifiable help they gave in reviewing the more esoteric topics that are in First Aid. Maybe you don't think that's worth it, but I wanted as high of a score possible and if you didn't do well in your classes then this may help even more. Think of it as an investment in your future. I think it was absolutely essential to me performing well.

-Pathoma: Used this for pathology during MS2, but was not a giant part of my Step 1 preparation. Read most of it once (some chapters twice if I wanted further comprehension). Great resource, but I am skeptical about how much it really helped me during dedicated prep. Once again drives home the fact that learning it the first time well is key.

Sorry for such a long post. Just wanted to get all my thoughts out there. Even if you are a Caribbean student or FMG you can still score very high if you are passionate and dedicated throughout your studies. For those of you who are getting out of the exam: GREAT JOB MAKING IT THROUGH. You can make plenty of silly mistakes and still get close to your target score. Consider writing it out and getting it out of your head that way if suppression isn't your strong suit.
Click to expand...


Wow!! This is amazing! Congrats! Thank you so very much for sharing your experience. Wishing you the best of luck in your future endeavours!
 
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Guys my exam is in 45 days and I have only done 50% of my uworld (not the score, I meant the amount of solved questions). That's because I'm studying material from FA and other resources. Is it that bad? I don't have a lot of time for uworld. I'm def gonna do more of it but I don't think I'll be able to do all of the left 1000 questions till my exam day. Is it ok? Or what do you suggest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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watchmenaenae said:
Guys my exam is in 45 days and I have only done 50% of my uworld (not the score, I meant the amount of solved questions). That's because I'm studying material from FA and other resources. Is it that bad? I don't have a lot of time for uworld. I'm def gonna do more of it but I don't think I'll be able to do all of the left 1000 questions till my exam day. Is it ok? Or what do you suggest.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
you have more than enough time to do finish 1000 UW questions, even if u do a block a day thats like 20 days. you can also do 2 blocks a day but i know that s though especially if its ur First pass on UW. well which ever one you do you will still have time to review all ur incorrects.
 
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watchmenaenae said:
Guys my exam is in 45 days and I have only done 50% of my uworld (not the score, I meant the amount of solved questions). That's because I'm studying material from FA and other resources. Is it that bad? I don't have a lot of time for uworld. I'm def gonna do more of it but I don't think I'll be able to do all of the left 1000 questions till my exam day. Is it ok? Or what do you suggest.
Click to expand...

You still have plenty of time and should be able to finish them all within 20 days (50 / day)(with this rate, you should still be able to read everything in the explanation). Trust me. A lot of my friends were in worse situation than you (like one of them had ~800 questions with only 10 days left and they still did fine). If you still happen to run out of time, read the long explanation only and don't bother reading the explanations for wrong answer choices, unless any of them talk extensively about something you don't know. Best of luck !
 
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My Step 1 experience:

Exam Date: Mid July
Result Date : 5 August
Background : IMG in final year of medical school
Prep Duration: 13 months ( 8 weeks Dedicated , REST: along with classes)

Prep Resources Used:

REVIEW BOOKS:

KLN Lecture Notes and Vids : (ONLY for Biochemistry , Immunology , Neuroanatomy & Pharmacology):1X
Goljan RR path : 1X
CMMRS Micro : 1X
BRS Physiology: 1x
BRS Behavioural Science : 1X
FIRST AID 2014 : 2X
Pathoma : 1x just 2 weeks before Test Day

QUESTION BANKS

Kaplan Q Bank : Finished Q Bank only , no simulated test , no diagnostic) 1X
Tutor Mode , Subjectwise.
Aggregate :79%

USMLE Rx : Timed Mode , Random 1X
Aggregate : 88%

USMLE WORLD: Timed tutor mode , Random 1X
Made a Log of Incorrects and lucky Guesses , Revieved 1X
Aggregate : 86%

ASSESSMENTS:

UWSA 1 : 264 (2 months out)
NBME 15 : 251(1 month out)
NBME 16 : 262(2 weeks out)
FRED Free 132 : 94 %( 3 days out)


TEST DAY :

I got about 6 -6.5 hours of sleep , the night before . Had a light breakfast , Carried loads of Gatorade and a can of Red Bull and some light snacks to the test center , Dint think i'd need them , but ended up using them all during the test !!

I reached the test center an hour early , and the prometric staff said at that point 'Sir , you can start right away'
At this point probably panicking a little , i asked them for like 5 mins , just to calm my nerves down & when i was ready . I stepped in. I type in my CIN and there i was , finally giving the test I'd been preparing for a over a year .

I dont remember much of the exam , and its still a blurr , but some general points :
#My test seemed to have an even distribution of topics , not one subject stood out .
#Question stems seemed much more vague as compared to all the three q banks
#They were much longer in length.
#There was a fair amount of minutiae on the test , and this is where i think , i got caught on : many of these were anatomy or micro questions ( esp the ones with which you only have a pic to identify the microbe/ worm )
#Ethics questions were tricky , at least two of the options seemed entirely plausible . so had to follow my gut here

All in all, THE TEST is a marathon , it really will take a lot out of you ,
I took a break to freshen up after every block , but as every block went by , it did get more difficult to maintain a high level of awareness. I came out of the test , feeling really strange , because it dint feel like any of the NBME's OR UWSA i took , neither like the q banks , But what they did give me was a logical way to come up with an answer , but this did get harder to do as test day wore on.



3 weeks later , i did receive my score report: REAL DEAL : 255


REFLECTIONS :

Going into the test , i did feel i had a fair chance id break that coveted 260 mark so when it did show 255 , i must admit i was slightly dissappointed for a few moments ..but then I thought to myself , I cannot be dissapointed with this score , afterall i did work hard and honestly for this score , within the timeframe i set myself up to and the resources i had at my disposal. I gave it all during the dedicated period and got a more than decent score. However for the sake of future SDN lurkers like me HERES WHAT ID DO DIFFERENTLY:

1. done More NBME'S : seriously these are gold , i think had i done more of these , it would have directed my prep to my weaker areas , maybe faults in reasoning , made me learn to minimise UNFORCED ERRORS as some people call it here ( i made a few on 15 and 16 & im sure i made em on the test as well

2. practice the full length of an exam: I think this was a major deterrent on my score ( NBME+UWSA OR NBME +U WORLD TIMED BLOCKS OR NBME + FRED

3.Had more time with U WORLD : seriously this is the single best resource , i cant help but feel there was more to U World than i got out of it in 1 Pass.

4.Done U WORLD in timed mode : Now that i look back on this : i do feel this would have helped my with the speed of thought, reasoning required on the actual test. But yeah u world in tutor mode seemed way more fun , for some reason .. and i prefered to do it that way.



Sorry for this long review , but even if a single person on SDN gains some insight from this , i will be the happiest . You guys have been of great help in my prep


Thank you







 
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rising hope said:
My Step 1 experience:

Exam Date: Mid July
Result Date : 5 August
Background : IMG in final year of medical school
Prep Duration: 13 months ( 8 weeks Dedicated , REST: along with classes)

Prep Resources Used:

REVIEW BOOKS:

KLN Lecture Notes and Vids : (ONLY for Biochemistry , Immunology , Neuroanatomy & Pharmacology):1X
Goljan RR path : 1X
CMMRS Micro : 1X
BRS Physiology: 1x
BRS Behavioural Science : 1X
FIRST AID 2014 : 2X
Pathoma : 1x just 2 weeks before Test Day

QUESTION BANKS

Kaplan Q Bank : Finished Q Bank only , no simulated test , no diagnostic) 1X
Tutor Mode , Subjectwise.
Aggregate :79%

USMLE Rx : Timed Mode , Random 1X
Aggregate : 88%

USMLE WORLD: Timed tutor mode , Random 1X
Made a Log of Incorrects and lucky Guesses , Revieved 1X
Aggregate : 86%

ASSESMENTS:

UWSA 1 : 264
NBME 15 : 251
NBME 16 : 262
FRED Free 132 : 94 %


TEST DAY :

I got about 6 -6.5 hours of sleep , the night before . Had a light breakfast , Carried loads of Gatorade and a can of Red Bull and some light snacks to the test center , Dint think i'd need them , but ended up using them all during the test !!

I reached the test center an hour early , and the prometric staff said at that point 'Sir , you can start right away'
At this point probably panicking a little , i asked them for like 5 mins , just to calm my nerves down & when i was ready . I stepped in. I type in my CIN and there i was , finally giving the test I'd been preparing for a over a year .

I dont remember much of the exam , and its still a blurr , but some general points :
#My test seemed to have an even distribution of topics , not one subject stood out .
#Question stems seemed much more vague as compared to all the three q banks
#They were much longer in length.
#There was a fair amount of minutiae on the test , and this is where i think , i got caught on : many of these were anatomy or micro questions ( esp the ones with which you only have a pic to identify the microbe/ worm )
#Ethics questions were tricky , at least two of the options seemed entirely plausible . so had to follow my gut here

All in all, THE TEST is a marathon , it really will take a lot out of you ,
I took a break to freshen up after every block , but as every block went by , it did get more difficult to maintain a high level of awareness. I came out of the test , feeling really strange , because it dint feel like any of the NBME's OR UWSA i took , neither like the q banks , But what they did give me was a logical way to come up with an answer , but this did get harder to do as test day wore on.



3 weeks later , i did receive my score report: REAL DEAL : 255


REFLECTIONS :

Going into the test , i did feel i had a fair chance id break that coveted 260 mark so when it did show 255 , i must admit i was slightly dissappointed for a few moments ..but then I thought to myself , I cannot be dissapointed with this score , afterall i did work hard and honestly for this score , within the timeframe i set myself up to and the resources i had at my disposal. I gave it all during the dedicated period and got a more than decent score. However for the sake of future SDN lurkers like me HERES WHAT ID DO DIFFERENTLY:

1. done More NBME'S : seriously these are gold , i think had i done more of these , it would have directed my prep to my weaker areas , maybe faults in reasoning , made me learn to minimise UNFORCED ERRORS as some people call it here ( i made a few on 15 and 16 & im sure i made em on the test as well

2. practice the full length of an exam: I think this was a major deterrent on my score ( NBME+UWSA OR NBME +U WORLD TIMED BLOCKS OR NBME + FRED

3.Had more time with U WORLD : seriously this is the single best resource , i cant help but feel there was more to U World than i got out of it in 1 Pass.

4.Done U WORLD in timed mode : Now that i look back on this : i do feel this would have helped my with the speed of though, reasoning required on the actual test. But yeah u world in tutor mode seemed way more fun , for some reason .. and i prefered to do that way.



Sorry for this long review , but even if a single person on SDN gains some insight from this , i will be the happiest . You guys have been of great help in my prep


Thank you
Click to expand...
Congratulations is a great scores.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
rising hope said:
My Step 1 experience:

Exam Date: Mid July
Result Date : 5 August
Background : IMG in final year of medical school
Prep Duration: 13 months ( 8 weeks Dedicated , REST: along with classes)

Prep Resources Used:

REVIEW BOOKS:

KLN Lecture Notes and Vids : (ONLY for Biochemistry , Immunology , Neuroanatomy & Pharmacology):1X
Goljan RR path : 1X
CMMRS Micro : 1X
BRS Physiology: 1x
BRS Behavioural Science : 1X
FIRST AID 2014 : 2X
Pathoma : 1x just 2 weeks before Test Day

QUESTION BANKS

Kaplan Q Bank : Finished Q Bank only , no simulated test , no diagnostic) 1X
Tutor Mode , Subjectwise.
Aggregate :79%

USMLE Rx : Timed Mode , Random 1X
Aggregate : 88%

USMLE WORLD: Timed tutor mode , Random 1X
Made a Log of Incorrects and lucky Guesses , Revieved 1X
Aggregate : 86%

ASSESSMENTS:

UWSA 1 : 264 (2 months out)
NBME 15 : 251(1 month out)
NBME 16 : 262(2 weeks out)
FRED Free 132 : 94 %( 3 days out)


TEST DAY :

I got about 6 -6.5 hours of sleep , the night before . Had a light breakfast , Carried loads of Gatorade and a can of Red Bull and some light snacks to the test center , Dint think i'd need them , but ended up using them all during the test !!

I reached the test center an hour early , and the prometric staff said at that point 'Sir , you can start right away'
At this point probably panicking a little , i asked them for like 5 mins , just to calm my nerves down & when i was ready . I stepped in. I type in my CIN and there i was , finally giving the test I'd been preparing for a over a year .

I dont remember much of the exam , and its still a blurr , but some general points :
#My test seemed to have an even distribution of topics , not one subject stood out .
#Question stems seemed much more vague as compared to all the three q banks
#They were much longer in length.
#There was a fair amount of minutiae on the test , and this is where i think , i got caught on : many of these were anatomy or micro questions ( esp the ones with which you only have a pic to identify the microbe/ worm )
#Ethics questions were tricky , at least two of the options seemed entirely plausible . so had to follow my gut here

All in all, THE TEST is a marathon , it really will take a lot out of you ,
I took a break to freshen up after every block , but as every block went by , it did get more difficult to maintain a high level of awareness. I came out of the test , feeling really strange , because it dint feel like any of the NBME's OR UWSA i took , neither like the q banks , But what they did give me was a logical way to come up with an answer , but this did get harder to do as test day wore on.



3 weeks later , i did receive my score report: REAL DEAL : 255


REFLECTIONS :

Going into the test , i did feel i had a fair chance id break that coveted 260 mark so when it did show 255 , i must admit i was slightly dissappointed for a few moments ..but then I thought to myself , I cannot be dissapointed with this score , afterall i did work hard and honestly for this score , within the timeframe i set myself up to and the resources i had at my disposal. I gave it all during the dedicated period and got a more than decent score. However for the sake of future SDN lurkers like me HERES WHAT ID DO DIFFERENTLY:

1. done More NBME'S : seriously these are gold , i think had i done more of these , it would have directed my prep to my weaker areas , maybe faults in reasoning , made me learn to minimise UNFORCED ERRORS as some people call it here ( i made a few on 15 and 16 & im sure i made em on the test as well

2. practice the full length of an exam: I think this was a major deterrent on my score ( NBME+UWSA OR NBME +U WORLD TIMED BLOCKS OR NBME + FRED

3.Had more time with U WORLD : seriously this is the single best resource , i cant help but feel there was more to U World than i got out of it in 1 Pass.

4.Done U WORLD in timed mode : Now that i look back on this : i do feel this would have helped my with the speed of thought, reasoning required on the actual test. But yeah u world in tutor mode seemed way more fun , for some reason .. and i prefered to do it that way.



Sorry for this long review , but even if a single person on SDN gains some insight from this , i will be the happiest . You guys have been of great help in my prep


Thank you
Click to expand...

Thanks for the write up and congrats on the score! Would you mind specifying at what point of your preparation you used each question bank? How useful did you find Rx? Kaplan Qbank?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ATypicalLymphocyte said:
Thanks for the write up and congrats on the score! Would you mind specifying at what point of your preparation you used each question bank? How useful did you find Rx? Kaplan Qbank?
Click to expand...

Kaplan Q bank - 3 months prior
Rx- 2 months prior
U World - 1 month prior


Rx- well it dint do much in terms of helping with reasoning/ critical thinking , simply because most of them are straight forward ...However I was aware of this before i bought it , and still decided to buy , because i thought it'd help me with nailing down first aid , i mean first aid felt like a chore before it , not so much after it , I must admit .


Kaplan Q bank- Very good explanations on this q bank , and the quality of the questions was slightly better than Rx i felt . Since it was the first q bank i did , it was hard to gauge what sort of an impact it had on my score. BUT I GENUINELY FELT that it was useful..simply based on the quality of the explanations .
 
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