I got my score back this past Wednesday. Here's my experience.. It's long.
Real Score: 264
Kaplan Qbank: 64% correct (completed 94%)
UWorld Qbank (Timed, random): 80% correct
NBME 13 (6wks before): 230
UWSA1 (4wks before): 245
NBME 15 (3wks before): 258
NBME 18 (1wk before): 254
NBME 17 (4d before): 14 wrong (I think... took it offline)
NBME 16 (3d before): 11 wrong (I think... took it offline)
First Year: No specific prep
Second Year: Throughout M2 I used Firecracker to study for classes by marking material I was learning that week. I would do ~150 questions per day. FC was great because I was constantly reviewing material and it stuck with me pretty well. I studied pretty hard for my exams and averaged ~94% on them throughout the year. During dedicated study period, I struggled the most with content that was covered during M1 and because of this, I wish I would have used FC during first year too so I could have reviewed that material. I stopped FC altogether when I began my study period. In addition to FC, I did 1-2 Kaplan Qbank blocks per week throughout second year (usually on the weekends). This wasn't enough to finish the QBank by the end of the school year (my goal) so I did more blocks during breaks (thanksgiving, winter) from class in order to catch up. I took NBME 13 before I began my dedicated study period to gauge where I was at.
Study Period: I didn't have a set schedule and played everything by ear. I decided a schedule would only do harm by creating anxiety and making me focus on things that may not be a weakness. Instead, I approached my dedicated study period with the goal of learning something each day that I didn't know before. This seemed to work out.
I started by watching all of Pathoma (which I did not use during M2) while doing 1-2 UWorld blocks per day. This took a little over 1 week and then I took UWSA1. After finishing Pathoma, I focused solely on hammering away at UW and did 3-4 blocks/day. I spent about 3-4hrs/block. 1 hour to take it and 2-3hrs to review. I reviewed by reading the explanations of all questions, but focused mostly on those that I got wrong. I took about 1 page of handwritten notes per block and kept it to concise concepts. I took NBME 15 after I was about half way through UW and kept going. I finished UWorld exactly 1 week before my exam.
During that last week, I did a lot of random stuff. I got my hands on PDFs of NBME 17 and 16... Since I took these offline, I didn't get official scores, but looked up answers online. I also used this week to go through all my incorrects of UWorld and reviewed my incorrects from NBMEs. I also focused on facts that I had neglected to memorize (ie. random anatomy, embryo, micro, etc).
It was hard for me to use First Aid. I really didn't like it for some reason. I tried using it during M2 year, but never stuck with it for more than a day or two. I used it during study period to learn material from M1 that I had forgotten. I went through the micro section maybe 2-3x and pharm/biochem/immuno 1-2x. I focused on trying to learn the charts (I found these helpful) in those sections. I hardly touched the organ system sections (except anatomy/embryo).
Exam: I felt anxious and nervous on exam day, which is not typical for me. My first block was tougher than any block that I have taken which freaked me out. The rest of the exam was comparable to UWorld and NBMEs, but with a few more curveballs. However, most of the exam was a blur. After the exam, I felt like ****. I started to question everything and felt very insecure/vulnerable. I thought there was no way I got close to my NBME average. While I had heard how it is typical to feel this way, I truly felt that I underperformed. This started to fade over the next few weeks, but still lingered.
In general, make sure you take care of yourself! I did something active daily and did my best to eat healthy foods/snacks. I did fun things every once in awhile to take a break (went out with friends once or twice, played some Xbox, shopping, etc). Also, don't stress about what other students are doing. I was constantly questioning whether I was studying correctly and feared that I had neglected information by not using FA. However, remember that there are endless amounts of study materials out there and that you are not going to be able to do them all. You gotta do what is best for you and focus on that. UW and NBMEs were the best. They helped me realize that I didn't need to study certain topics, while making me focus on other content I seemed to struggle with more.
Best of luck with your studying. Hopefully this was helpful for someone.
