Official 2016 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Transposony]

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Let's continue the tradition for a very useful thread which has helped many.
Title says it all.
Good luck !

Must read thread:

Just took Step 1! It was a tornado of integration!!

My USMLE Step1 Thoughts and Experience, by Phloston

Official 2015 Step 1 Planning and Strategy Thread

 

[nsgirl27]

1. What school gives their students a CBSE over 6 months in advance of their exam??
2. How are you scoring 220 5 months out from your exam??

As part of our preparation, our school gives 3 CBSE's (October, December, April) to see our progress and to make sure we will be ready to sit for step before our M3 rotations begin in June. If they decide that you are likely to not pass or pass/do poorly based off of the trajectory of your scores, then they will advise you to re-schedule. Our program has always done it that way apparently. Most students do not take them seriously except for the April date.

So, re: 220 - I've been studying off/on for step since the summer. I have a lot of clinical experience prior to medical school, and I honestly think that has helped me retain path/phys/pharm material. Otherwise, I chalk it up to repetition (doing pathoma and kaplan with every block multiple times). One of my classmates got a 220 on the October exam, so I really didn't think much of my score...

 

[watchmenaenae]

Could anybody please tell me how to manage time during test day? When to take breaks? What food to take to exam and when to use it? And if there's already a thread about that could you please share the link. Thanks in advance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[greatsurg]

took the exam on the 19th, the exam was difficult in my opinion, i really don't know what to expect i was marking up to 8 questions per block, i felt confident going into the exam, i had no issues with time, cos the length of the questions were Ok, the long ones were mainly due to lab values and there was a fair mix of easy questions which made things faster. at this point i can only pray and hope.

scores
school CBSSE 220 6 months out
NBME 12 210 5 months out
UWSA1 245 4 months out
NBME 11 180/200 offline
NBME 15 232
UWSA 2 253 4 weeks out
NBME 13 181/200 offline
NBME 17 249 3 weeks
NBME 16 254 1 week out

Free 132 86% 3 days out

 

[worldbeater]

That's a monster jump from 200 to 249 on NBME 13 and and 17, what was the time gap between those two?

 

[greatsurg]

That's a monster jump from 200 to 249 on NBME 13 and and 17, what was the time gap between those two?

not 200, i meant 181 questions out of 200, its around 250+

 

[tvelocity514]

not 200, i meant 181 questions out of 200, its around 250+

Do you recommend taking NBME 12 5 months out if you had to redo it again or would you wait and use it closer? I am 4 months out and haven't taken anything buy my school administered CBSSE. Had you taken all your classes? We still have neuro/psych/gi/msk/derm to take so idk if I should take it now or when I should get my baseline.

 

[greatsurg]

Do you recommend taking NBME 12 5 months out if you had to redo it again or would you wait and use it closer? I am 4 months out and haven't taken anything buy my school administered CBSSE. Had you taken all your classes? We still have neuro/psych/gi/msk/derm to take so idk if I should take it now or when I should get my baseline.

yes i did it after my classes, i think you should do the same, u could use the older nbmes to practice. i used NBME 12 as baseline, so yea i would do it over again

 

[stop2stop]

Hey all,

Thanks so much to everyone for the great posts. Quick question: When people say "Kaplan" as part of their study resources (Biochem for example) what do they mean? Do they mean the QBank, the books, the High Yield videos, or some combination of all of them? I've noticed people in this thread posting things like Pathoma/FA/Kaplan, but I'm not sure what they mean entirely (Pathoma and FA are a bit more obvious). Any info here would be really helpful, thanks so much for your time.

 

[VenuSN]

Hey all,

Thanks so much to everyone for the great posts. Quick question: When people say "Kaplan" as part of their study resources (Biochem for example) what do they mean? Do they mean the QBank, the books, the High Yield videos, or some combination of all of them? I've noticed people in this thread posting things like Pathoma/FA/Kaplan, but I'm not sure what they mean entirely (Pathoma and FA are a bit more obvious). Any info here would be really helpful, thanks so much for your time.

They're referring to the Lecture Notes (aka the books).

 

[cyberchicken001]

Hey all,

Thanks so much to everyone for the great posts. Quick question: When people say "Kaplan" as part of their study resources (Biochem for example) what do they mean? Do they mean the QBank, the books, the High Yield videos, or some combination of all of them? I've noticed people in this thread posting things like Pathoma/FA/Kaplan, but I'm not sure what they mean entirely (Pathoma and FA are a bit more obvious). Any info here would be really helpful, thanks so much for your time.

They're referring to the Lecture Notes (aka the books).

From what I've seen the videos are based directly off the book, similar to pathoma. I've found the biochem and pharm videos to be really helpful.

 

[general987]

Should we switch to 2016 FA if our test is in June?

 

[nsgirl27]

Should we switch to 2016 FA if our test is in June?

It depends on if you want to wait for the errata to be posted later this spring (march? april? can anyone confirm which month?). I've been told that if you've been using FA 2015, there's no real need to switch - in fact, you might be committing unpublished errors to memory. There are some threads which identify the differences between each version, so you could always use the 2015 version with corrections and then add in any extra info from 2016. That's what I'll be doing 🙂

 

[balleballe]

Hey guys it's my first post on the forum (I'm an IMG) but I've been going through this and the 2015 thread quite often and there's been some really good advice.

My aim for step 1 was 250, and I was planning to sit the exam mid Jan. I took USWSA2 yesterday and scored 255 (which some people have been saying over predicts by 10-20) and NBME scores for 11,12,13 have ranged from 240-247 throughout the last 2 weeks of dedicated study with no real massive imporvement. On 4th Jan I start my rotations till summer time so will get limited time to study (maybe 7 hours a day if lucky). I've nailed down some weaknesses over the last 2 weeks but the last UW self assessment I took yesterday has now brought up different one's! I was wondering if it would be worth delaying the exam till end of Jan.
At the moment I can't seem to break the 250 barrier - maybe I've reached a peak with the background knowledge I've gained over the months. I'm half way through second pass of UW. I've completed Kaplan once and also got half of Rx left. I've been focusing on qs and First aid for some time now.

Thanks!

 

[deleted500612]

Hey guys it's my first post on the forum (I'm an IMG) but I've been going through this and the 2015 thread quite often and there's been some really good advice.

My aim for step 1 was 250, and I was planning to sit the exam mid Jan. I took USWSA2 yesterday and scored 255 (which some people have been saying over predicts by 10-20) and NBME scores for 11,12,13 have ranged from 240-247 throughout the last 2 weeks of dedicated study with no real massive imporvement. On 4th Jan I start my rotations till summer time so will get limited time to study (maybe 7 hours a day if lucky). I've nailed down some weaknesses over the last 2 weeks but the last UW self assessment I took yesterday has now brought up different one's! I was wondering if it would be worth delaying the exam till end of Jan.
At the moment I can't seem to break the 250 barrier - maybe I've reached a peak with the background knowledge I've gained over the months. I'm half way through second pass of UW. I've completed Kaplan once and also got half of Rx left. I've been focusing on qs and First aid for some time now.

Thanks!

Given your situation, I would just write the exam. You are going to have much less free time to study once you start rotations and the study time you do get will likely just be enough to maintain the knowledge base you currently have while making little progress towards a higher score.

 

[walakin25]

relative to when i started my prep, i was a little late to the SDN game but love the knowledge and curiosity on this forum. wish all of you a successful journey through your step grind. take care of your mind and your body. Wake up everyday with a purpose and absolutley own that day. Keep your head up and keep at it. Im a few weeks out from my date with the step and I can confidently say it has been one heck of a journey. Oh and before I forget, Happy New Year everbody!

 

[stop2stop]

Thanks so much for the input from everyone. Hoping to ask when/how to use Golian RR during dedicated study time. Is it too dense/not focused enough a resource to be helpful during dedicated time?

 

[pacman2018]

I don't plan on using RR during dedicated. seems way too much. I use it as a reference during class, but don't look at it after that

 

[allojay]

Just scheduled my exam. Reality is slowly kicking in .

 

[stop2stop]

I don't plan on using RR during dedicated. seems way too much. I use it as a reference during class, but don't look at it after that

Thanks for the reply. The problem I'm having is really retaining the less broad material while just reading FA, even with notes in there from UW, etc.

Any advice from anyone on this? Is there enough time during dedicated study to supplement FA readings to a degree?

 

[nsgirl27]

Just signed up to take my exam on May 31, 8am.

 

[premed2000]

Can someone comment on the best resource to review biochem? Also, when you start doing USMLE-rx and UWorld, what kind of mode is recommended? I plan on starting today, go through 1 pass of USMLE-rx first, and then 2 passes of UWorld before my exam in four months. I am thinking about doing tutorial mode/randomized for USMLE-rx for the first pass, and perhaps tutorial mode/randomized for first pass of UWorld, before timed/randomized 2nd pass of UWorld. Any suggestions?

 

[UltimateforFun]

Can someone comment on the best resource to review biochem? Also, when you start doing USMLE-rx and UWorld, what kind of mode is recommended? I plan on starting today, go through 1 pass of USMLE-rx first, and then 2 passes of UWorld before my exam in four months. I am thinking about doing tutorial mode/randomized for USMLE-rx for the first pass, and perhaps tutorial mode/randomized for first pass of UWorld, before timed/randomized 2nd pass of UWorld. Any suggestions?

I am a big fan of untimed and randomized when you are first going through things.

 

[plasmodium]

10 weeks out. Started dedicated study January 2nd after taking a 2 week vacation from school.

Got impatient today and took my first true NBME (Form 11 - scored 258) but now my schedule is a bit messed up. I intend to use all of the NBMEs, UWSAs, and Kaplan Simulated Exams (10 total exams over 10 weeks), but now one of my study weeks has no NBME to go with it.

Does anyone have any recommendations for another simulated exam I can use to fill in the gap I created by taking NBME 11 earlier than I had planned? I was thinking of using the Free 132 in place of a simulated exam, thoughts?

 

[Qester]

Does anyone have any experince using brosencephalon anki deck for the step? Any insight to if it is worth it?

 

[general987]

Would love to hear the above response too lol

 

[skarabrae]

Does anyone have any experince using brosencephalon anki deck for the step? Any insight to if it is worth it?

Would love to hear the above response too lol

Lots of discussion on this if you use the search function.

 

[Transposony]

Does anyone have any experince using brosencephalon anki deck for the step? Any insight to if it is worth it?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ns-anki-deck-overrated.1174043/#post-17220063

 

[plasmodium]

10 weeks out. Started dedicated study January 2nd after taking a 2 week vacation from school.

Got impatient today and took my first true NBME (Form 11 - scored 258) but now my schedule is a bit messed up. I intend to use all of the NBMEs, UWSAs, and Kaplan Simulated Exams (10 total exams over 10 weeks), but now one of my study weeks has no NBME to go with it.

Does anyone have any recommendations for another simulated exam I can use to fill in the gap I created by taking NBME 11 earlier than I had planned? I was thinking of using the Free 132 in place of a simulated exam, thoughts?

Anyone?

 

[stop2stop]

Posted this in the 2015 thread, but wondering if anyone has specific advice on what to do the last couple weeks before the test. Is this enough time to make a pass through FA, or should we be doing something else?

 

[Qester]

Posted this in the 2015 thread, but wondering if anyone has specific advice on what to do the last couple weeks before the test. Is this enough time to make a pass through FA, or should we be doing something else?

Still early on in my prep but during this time for me I will be doing FA pass and working on any remaining glaring deficits

 

[stop2stop]

Still early on in my prep but during this time for me I will be doing FA pass and working on any remaining glaring deficits

Thanks for the reply. Were you planning on doing UWorld at all during that time, or a number of NMBEs? Would love to get others opinions on this as well, thanks again.

 

[nsgirl27]

Thanks for the reply. Were you planning on doing UWorld at all during that time, or a number of NMBEs? Would love to get others opinions on this as well, thanks again.

Our advisor told us we should do the following 3 things (listed below) and that first and foremost - you should not be learning anything new during the last 3 weeks before your exam. Taper your studying down during the last 3 days with those days being straight review out of first aid or personal notes. The day before the exam - RELAX.

1). Do an NBME or 2 to simulate testing conditions as well as to study via questions.
2). Finish your 2nd pass of UWorld (and finish it 4-5 days before your exam so you have time to review your UWorld Journal of concepts you still find yourself forgetting). UWorld should be the last/most recent QBank you do since it is most similar to Step questions out of all the QBanks.
3). Review your annotated First Aid and Pathoma books as a supplement to questions/tests.

I hope that helps! This is the plan I will be following when I get down to that timeline. Right now I am less than 5 months out and starting my first pass of UWorld while annotating FA, Pathoma, etc.

 

[strawberryicecream]

5 months out. Best things to do? Step 1 Secrets, Sketchy Micro and USMLE -Rx First path from now to March, then during 8 week dedicated study time: UWorld 2x, Pathoma, Thoughts?

 

[Adamoza]

Hi guys just got my step 1 results 06/01/2016 Exam in 08/12/2015

UW Qbank 84%
NBME 11 5 weeks out 245
UW SA 1 5 weeks out 253
NBME 15 3 weeks out 241
UW SA 2 2 weeks out 248
NBME 17 1 week out 262

Real deal 251 🙂

 

[DandyLion]

Hi guys just got my step 1 results 06/01/2016 Exam in 08/12/2015

UW Qbank 84%
NBME 11 5 weeks out 245
UW SA 1 5 weeks out 253
NBME 15 3 weeks out 241
UW SA 2 2 weeks out 248
NBME 17 1 week out 262

Real deal 251 🙂

Awesome score! Mind sharing your prep? ️

 

[plasmodium]

Hi guys just got my step 1 results 06/01/2016 Exam in 08/12/2015

UW Qbank 84%
NBME 11 5 weeks out 245
UW SA 1 5 weeks out 253
NBME 15 3 weeks out 241
UW SA 2 2 weeks out 248
NBME 17 1 week out 262

Real deal 251 🙂

Congrats, great score!

Seems like the UWSAs were your best predictor. If you don't mind me asking, of the practice exams you took, which (if any) did you find was the most relevant/similar to the real deal?

 

[Blue Flame]

Hi guys just got my step 1 results 06/01/2016 Exam in 08/12/2015

UW Qbank 84%
NBME 11 5 weeks out 245
UW SA 1 5 weeks out 253
NBME 15 3 weeks out 241
UW SA 2 2 weeks out 248
NBME 17 1 week out 262

Real deal 251 🙂

Nice score! Can you talk a little bit about what your test was like?

 

[Adamoza]

Thanks guys
I started off my prep by reading through first aid which took about a 6 weeks as I work full time. Following that I went through UW questions first time; untimed in the fist half and timed 44 blocks for the second half.
I used to get low scores sometimes.
Then I covered the FA for the second time and went through UW questions again, timed in 44 blocks. followed by solving the wrong and marked questions. By then I was confident of my question solving technique but defecient in many areas Bio/micro/Immunology/Respiratory so I repeated those in FA
I took the UW SA 1 got 253 and NBME 11 245 which I felt has a very similar difficulty to the exam.
During the last month I continued repeating random questions in UW and occasionally rando chapters in FA (When I do that I make selective UW blocks).
I continued like this while taking the rest of the assessments, until four days before the exam. I then started screening through FA mainly hunting for the marked lines, tables and charts.
the day before the exam I went through the last chapter of FA which give a whole list of the forgettables and the common associations.
The night before the exam I went for a dinner with friends and arrived at the hotel at about 12 ( don't do that!), I couldn't sleep due to the fear of not waking up and I had to take a sleeping aid ( very risky!).
On the exam day I had a nice continental breakfast and went to the test center.
I took it as 2 blocks/ break/2 blocks/ Lunch/ 1 block/ break/1 block/ break/1 block
The exam felt like the most difficult thing I have ever done with a hell of new concepts tested and new ways of questions, even the easy topics that are studied every day the questions were tough with little clues and there were very very confusing distractors on the answers.
I would say that most of the questions needed proper thinking as nothing was given even when you knew the answers.
I felt like I did soooooo bad and kept remembering my stupid mistakes.

My advice from my personal experience:

1- FA is a good starter but can only be mastered after you finished the UW questions and repeated the book again.
2-UW questions are the ones that I studied the most and found very helpful. I will always read the whole explanation even when I remembered the answer.
3-I felt that some of the questions which I definitely got wrong where due to lack of knowledge so I advice reading another source on top of the FA.
4-Many of the questions which I remembered as wrong were seemingly easy, so focus and concentrate and read the whole question carefully.
5-The assessment which I felt was closest to the level of difficulty to the exam was NBME 11/15 but not in the content.
6-NBME 17 is definitely much easier than the real exam; may be it hit my strengths !
7- Time is not an issue if you have solved enough questions- I haven't had a problem finishing any block.
8-Get good sleep the night before and you should feel much better than what I did.

All the best

 

[Cytochrome P450]

Hi,
I took step 1 in December:
NBME11 4 months 230
NBME15 15 wks 215 :-(
UWSA 1 10wks 247
UWSA2 7wks 247
NBME17 5wks 239
NBME16 3wks 239
Usmle practice session 2wks 88%
Real Deal 245 🙂

 

[plasmodium]

Thanks guys
I took the UW SA 1 got 253 and NBME 11 245 which I felt has a very similar difficulty to the exam.

Thank you for your post. Most students say that the older NBMEs are not similar in difficulty to the modern exams, what made NBME 11 feel similar?

 

[CyberMaxx]

So I'm trying to lay out my study plan for my final semester and would appreciate some advice on what resources I should stick with this semester. I have invested most of my time so far into Firecracker and Sketchy, which I feel very strongly about using going forward. I have also been using Pathoma and Rapid Review (annotating Pathoma into Rapid Review) and doing questions out of Rx and Kaplan.

Last semester I really only kept up with Firecracker and Sketchy, doing a moderate job of going through Pathoma and RR. I didn't do very many Qbank questions. Assuming I'm going to keep up Firecracker and Sketchy, does anyone have any advice about which of my other resources would be best to focus on going forward? I want to cut back since I realize I'm not adequately using everything and I also want to keep up my grades if possible (H/P/F school).

 

[Adamoza]

Thank you for your post. Most students say that the older NBMEs are not similar in difficulty to the modern exams, what made NBME 11 feel similar?

Hi Shephard

The feeling I had that the amount of clinically oriented material tested in NBME 17 was more and I felt its easier than the real exam.
NBME 11 for example had much tougher basic stuff that is can not be solved by clinical knowledge alone which has happened to me in NBME 17.
In the real exam I found many tough basic questions that could only be solved by knowing it in depth rather than trying to clinically working it out, secondly the number of difficult questions per block was comparable.

 

[Qester]

Hey Guys just wondering what the "proper" way to review Qbanks are?

Currently I am doing the questions, reading the explanation for why the answer was correct, making notes as needed, reading up in first aid and then moving on.

What I'm not doing is exploring why all the other answer choices were wrong. Is it worth the time to go through each answer choice?

 

[Transposony]

What I'm not doing is exploring why all the other answer choices were wrong. Is it worth the time to go through each answer choice?

Yes, it's important to know why the other choices were wrong.

 

[Ladiabla07]

Recently took my STEP1 (I know its still 2015, but someone made this thread like mid 2015, so w/e its after the majority of 2015 test takers anyways).
My NBME scores:
NBME11 - 224
CBSE (school mediated) - 225
NBME12 - 228
NBME13 - 232
NBME15 - 245
NBME16 - 239
NBME17 - 230 (I think I stopped caring about NBME's at this point because I had the jist of what I was likely to get)
UWSA1 - 247
UWSA2 - 238
Uworld Avg - 73%
Kaplan Qbank (early) - 66%

Still haven't gotten my score back but I will edit this point with my actual STEP1 score.
In all honesty, I felt like I did thousands upon thousands of questions, reviewed all the information in FA, pathoma, Kaplan Pharm, and referenced other Kaplan books for things still unclear... and yet STILL that test looked like a test that I had never seen before. I did NOT feel good coming out of it.
Most of the time after NBME's, I would feel alright, or at least decent. No telling how STEP1 went. I mean I studied my heart out and that's all I could do. I wasn't scared or nervous walking into the exam and I got a good night's sleep before it. If I do poorly, I really don't have an excuse.
At this point, I think I'd be happy with a 220+, but let's see how the actual score turns out before I get on that tract.

Hey, I had a very similar experience to yours. Took my exam last week, waiting now with crossed fingers. How'd you end up doing?

 

[Ladiabla07]

Recently took my STEP1 (I know its still 2015, but someone made this thread like mid 2015, so w/e its after the majority of 2015 test takers anyways).
My NBME scores:
NBME11 - 224
CBSE (school mediated) - 225
NBME12 - 228
NBME13 - 232
NBME15 - 245
NBME16 - 239
NBME17 - 230 (I think I stopped caring about NBME's at this point because I had the jist of what I was likely to get)
UWSA1 - 247
UWSA2 - 238
Uworld Avg - 73%
Kaplan Qbank (early) - 66%

Still haven't gotten my score back but I will edit this point with my actual STEP1 score.
In all honesty, I felt like I did thousands upon thousands of questions, reviewed all the information in FA, pathoma, Kaplan Pharm, and referenced other Kaplan books for things still unclear... and yet STILL that test looked like a test that I had never seen before. I did NOT feel good coming out of it.
Most of the time after NBME's, I would feel alright, or at least decent. No telling how STEP1 went. I mean I studied my heart out and that's all I could do. I wasn't scared or nervous walking into the exam and I got a good night's sleep before it. If I do poorly, I really don't have an excuse.
At this point, I think I'd be happy with a 220+, but let's see how the actual score turns out before I get on that tract.

Nvm- I saw your later post 🙂 good job!

 

[Blue Flame]

Hey, I had a very similar experience to yours. Took my exam last week, waiting now with crossed fingers. How'd you end up doing?

Can you please describe your experience a little, especially your test itself?

 

[Maltoma]

My exam is on 18th Feb.
Recent scores Nbme 11: 204, Nbme 12: 221. Getting nervous day by day , really want to touch 240 at least. I haven't studied at all for the last one week because i am starting to question myself and my abilities. I don't feel that i will be able to do it. Some motivational words would be really nice as my exam is getting close and i haven't been able to pick my self up. Also if recent test takers lay out a plan for the last month, that would be really kind.

 

[nsgirl27]

My exam is on 18th Feb.
Recent scores Nbme 11: 204, Nbme 12: 221. Getting nervous day by day , really want to touch 240 at least. I haven't studied at all for the last one week because i am starting to question myself and my abilities. I don't feel that i will be able to do it. Some motivational words would be really nice as my exam is getting close and i haven't been able to pick my self up. Also if recent test takers lay out a plan for the last month, that would be really kind.

Hey Maltoma, Sorry to hear you're getting down on yourself. Why don't you share some of your study methods up until this point so we have a better idea of how you've been preparing? Keep your goal in mind, and take each day as a brand-new set of 24 hours to get yourself back on track. I haven't taken the test yet, but as a someone who struggled with loads of injuries in college athletics, these were the kinds of sentiments we used to get ourselves pumped about recovery. Make a choice today about whether or not you're committed to the cause and go from there. If there is a way to push back your exam, that may be worthwhile to consider. If not, and I had one month until my exam, I would hit UWorld hard (reading both the wrong/right answer choices) and use FA/Pathoma as my references after question sets. If you know of any strong obvious weaknesses, I might hit review for those a bit harder too.

You CAN do this. Keep moving forward.

 

[Maltoma]

Thank you so much for your reply @nsgirl27 . I have been preparing for this exam for the last one year and i have already delayed it once. I recently got done with UWorld and got 73% and haven't been able to study since then. Its just that i have burnt out myself as its been such a long time. My plan is to get done with a quick read of FA and hit Nbme 13. I think i should do Uworld again to keep myself engaged.