Official 2016 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Transposony

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Considering your exam is less than 2 months after the release of FA 2016, don't you think annotating into a notebook will be too time consuming?

If the bulk of the extra pages are new sections/topics, I won't annotate. I'll just read those from 2016. For information added to pre-existing topics, I can only hope its in an amount amenable to being annotated into FA 2015. Its still going to be an annoying amount of work considering I'm going to have to go over every word of the book just to pick out the differences.
 
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DrPicard said:
Considering your exam is less than 2 months after the release of FA 2016, don't you think annotating into a notebook will be too time consuming?

If the bulk of the extra pages are new sections/topics, I won't annotate. I'll just read those from 2016. For information added to pre-existing topics, I can only hope its in an amount amenable to being annotated into FA 2015. Its still going to be an annoying amount of work considering I'm going to have to go over every word of the book just to pick out the differences.
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Sorry, I should clarify. I mean to say my UWORLD annotations + any other information I plan to add to the margins/pages of my FA 2015, I would put into a notebook instead. This is still a rough idea, I'm not sure exactly how it would pan out...

Agreed, the timing before my exam date is pretty close... maybe i'll just buy FA16 and read/mark the new content with page markers.. seems more feasible in a sense. While continuing to use my FA15 as my main source.

thoughts?
 
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Looks like too much work to me.. Reading just one FA is a huge chore , having to read 2 of them seems like living hell! Having gone through World should be more than enough to cover for the extra content in FA '16 (e.g for the safety q's , I have 3 pages in my notebook solely from World)
 
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Yeah.. I'm a little reluctant to rely on FA 2016 especially since the errata won't be posted until much later this spring. I'm going to stick with my FA 2015. I'll buy the kindle version of 2016 and just add the new info in a later pass of FA.

As far as annotations go... I currently have none in my FA. I'd like to keep my annotations in there minimal. I plan to take my UWORLD + other QBank notes down in a separate notebook like @drimo786
 
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I wouldn't recommend FA 2016 for anyone who is taking the test in next few months.
I think it's better to stick with the material which is familiar rather then use new material at this juncture.
Moreover, FA 2015 already has the errata and the amount of errata on FA 2016 is unknown.
Remember, it's what you know which matters and not what material you got it from.
 
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Question for all the NBME experts of sdn : I only want to spew the dollars for one more NBME , which one of 15 , 16 , 17 is the hardest / has more educational value??
 
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@tasar1898 Since you asked. Well I started since March studying for step one ( not dedicated). I dedicated 3 months (July,August,December) I had to get off studying in September,October ad November because I had other courses at my university. I'm also an IMG fifth year in medicine university. I'm doing last review of FA since I'm taking the exam on December 29. I did Kaplan once, pathoma once, and now in my second pass of uworld with overall score 76%. I took NBME15 on September got a 210 and wasn't happy about it. I'm planing to finish FA now with a second round of pathoma until my exam day. In the last week I'm planing to do NBMEs 16 & 17. And good luck to all.
 
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Hi guys I'm an IMG from SriLanka,this forum has been very helpful to me in my prepartion.Just a quick ques.is it okay to write Step1 on the last day of your Scheduling Permit(my permit ends on 29th Feb.).I wish I could write my exam in the week before bt local elections will be going on in the city and during that time everything shuts down temporarily.Much thanks
 
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@yashdeep88 Definitely call your prometric center and ask them , also schedule the appointment way in advance because you have no chance to reschedule if all spots are taken in that day
 
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image.jpg


Side note to everyone: Please dont make your FA like this... Impossible to review :hungover:
 
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Hey, how is everyone planning on studying Pathoma? Do most people just watch the lectures and take notes in the text, or is there a better way to get it down solid?
 
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Joining this thread...scary to say the least.
I am shooting for 240+ but I will be happy with a 235+.

My date is April 8th, at 8am, for 8 hours. 8 needs to become my new favorite number obviously.

Just wondering what people think of Lipincott micro and Lange pharm cards??? I need something beside FA and pathoma books that are not reliant on technology and I personally struggle with these high yield topics.
 
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Also , @voicesinmyhead here is my daily program ( I post it more to convince myself than as advice to anyone )

Wake up at 9.30
Breakfast/chill at sdn until 11:00
11-2 : USMLE Stat
2-2.30: Sketchy micro review
2.30-4 : FA
4-5.30/6.00 : Lunch/noon chilling
6-1 : Finish 55-60pages of FA , then relax until bedtime

@UltimateforFun Why not sketchy micro??
 
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UltimateforFun said:
Joining this thread...scary to say the least.
I am shooting for 240+ but I will be happy with a 230+.

My date is April 8th, at 8am, for 8 hours. 8 needs to become my new favorite number obviously.

Just wondering what people think of Lipincott micro and Lange pharm cards??? I need something beside FA and pathoma books that are not reliant on technology and I personally struggle with these high yield topics.
Click to expand...
I really like the Lippincott Mirco Cards. They prepared me extremely well for my course exams, but I'm not sure if they are too little or too much for Step 1.
 
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okokok said:
@SKaminski curious why you're not using brosencephalon's pharm cards?
Click to expand...

No particular reason. I didnt start doing it at the beginning of the year, and so never did it. I wasn't sure if there was a better way to approach it... I was kinda hoping that SketchyPharm would come out and i could make flashcards based on that, but maybe not....
 
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tasar1898 said:
Also , @voicesinmyhead here is my daily program ( I post it more to convince myself than as advice to anyone )

Wake up at 9.30
Breakfast/chill at sdn until 11:00
11-2 : USMLE Stat
2-2.30: Sketchy micro review
2.30-4 : FA
4-5.30/6.00 : Lunch/noon chilling
6-1 : Finish 55-60pages of FA , then relax until bedtime

@UltimateforFun Why not sketchy micro??
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot.
Why usmle stats and not a proper qbank like uworld? Is USMLEstat something like firecracker? good for last month review you think?
 
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@smile8888 I just annotated everything from Kaplan books/bank and some stuff from Uworld... Problem is that stuff that seemed profound at beginning of my prep now seem common sense and end up just cluttering my book...

@voicesinmyhead usmle stat is not a qbank , it just asks you factoids and has a bunch of cool pictures and it's free... Do NOT use for pharm/cardiology , the "facts" it asks will just make you wanna smash your phone.. I use it in the morning because it takes some time for my brain to be able to read FA
 
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@tasar1898 I have a question if I may ask. Have you found new information in USMLEstat that's not written in FA or uworld? Do you think it's helpful?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Yeah , couple of genetic syndromes , I just wiki them out of curiosity but at this point I ain't learning ANYTHING new, also I stopped doing cardiology cards due to usmleSTAT murmur OBSESSION
 
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I read about 282 too. But the PD was not sure if it was step1 or step2...it is apparently easier to achieve those kind of scores in step2...It is hardly indicative of the clinical acumen of the doc..
 
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cabergoline2 said:
I read about 282 too. But the PD was not sure if it was step1 or step2...it is apparently easier to achieve those kind of scores in step2...It hardly makes any difference in the quality of medical practice .
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he was specifically talking about step 1, and how his new curriculum increased scores in his school. This particular school (which I won't name), had 2 students score in the low 280s that first year after the new curriculum was introduced.
 
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What's the consensus on a good amount of dedicated time? 4-5 weeks? Trying to decide whether I want to use up every day we have allotted or give myself a week afterwards to decompress. Also, does anyone know of any sample dedicated time schedules that have been uploaded?
 
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Tri723 said:
The highest score i've ever heard of is a 282, directly said from the director of a medical school when i was interviewing there.
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I've read of a 283 (secondhand account) through this forum; apparently the guy was a Rad/Onc resident at UChicago a couple years back. I've also read through this forum of an African IMG getting a 286 on both Step 1 and Step 2 (also a secondhand account). I think we can safely assume that the highest score ever achieved is somewhere in the upper 280s, especially if you've heard of multiple students scoring in the low 280s through people you know in real life. I don't doubt that Pollux himself would score somewhere in the 280s if he took the exam today, when the average is probably up about 10 points since he took the exam in 2008 (and scored the 276).
 
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Blue Flame said:
I've read of a 283 (secondhand account) through this forum; apparently the guy was a Rad/Onc resident at UChicago a couple years back. I've also read through this forum of an African IMG getting a 286 on both Step 1 and Step 2 (also a secondhand account). I think we can safely assume that the highest score ever achieved is somewhere in the upper 280s, especially if you've heard of multiple students scoring in the low 280s through people you know in real life. I don't doubt that Pollux himself would score somewhere in the 280s if he took the exam today, when the average is probably up about 10 points since he took the exam in 2008 (and scored the 276).
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Jeez, makes you wonder what's going to be in store for med students in 10 years' time... 300 pts average score?
 
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cabergoline2 said:
median score was 200 in 1990s.
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Could it also imply that questions were tougher/different? Or that the exam was scored differently? At least partly... Just like the median IQ was lower in the past, but not exclusively because people were less bright.
 
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VenuSN said:
Could it also imply that questions were tougher/different? Or that the exam was scored differently? At least partly... Just like the median IQ was lower in the past, but not exclusively because people were less bright.
Click to expand...
Here are the differences that I think cause higher STEP scores
1) competition - not everyone gets what they want. STEP becomes a must. Competition is fierce.
2) better resources - I use so many amazing resources, unheard of or greatly improved upon since 1990s
3) training longer and harder. Docs cared less in the past about step and def did not study the way we do today.
 
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