Official 2016 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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3 weeks until the big day

Rx- 81%
nbme 12- 247
nbme 13- 258
nbme 15- 247
UWSA1- 256
UWSA2- 243
nbme16- 245
uWorld-80%, 40% complete

Still afraid I won't hit my 250 goal... Going to finish off uWorld, read first aid and sketchy micro/pharm...any other advice leading up to the big day?
 
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Qester said:
3 weeks until the big day

Rx- 81%
nbme 12- 247
nbme 13- 258
nbme 15- 247
UWSA1- 256
UWSA2- 243
nbme16- 245
uWorld-80%, 40% complete

Still afraid I won't hit my 250 goal... Going to finish off uWorld, read first aid and sketchy micro/pharm...any other advice leading up to the big day?
Click to expand...
You're right where you want to be. In my opinion, you have a good chance at scoring 240-255. On a strong test day I think you may break 250. Just stay confident and do your best to continue doing whatever you're doing without freaking out.

AnalisCanalis said:
Almost halfway through UW at this point (avg 86%). My initial plan was to do it twice but damn it is boring. I find myself skipping most of the explanations when reviewing and I'm starting to question whether or not a second pass is worth it. I'm 4 weeks out. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
I finished with UWorld with an 88% on my first and only pass, and I was comfortably in 260 range on every NBME. Ended up scoring >260. Make your first pass really count (ie, stop skipping most of the explanations, even if you already know the information well), and a second pass will definitely not be necessary.
 
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The wait is killing me. I did it on the 19th of may. Had 32 questions in the last block. I am freaking out because my assessments were all over the place. Nbmes average was 235 but uwsa average was >250. A week before the step I took Uwsa 2 and got a 263. This was a week after nbme 17 (232). I felt the step was way more like uworld than nbme... I guess only time will tell. :vomit:
 
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I have a question. When people say RX = 85% or UWorld = 80%, are they talking about their cumulative percentage? Or the percentage they got right in the last few tests?
 
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hey guys.. I'm also waiting for my results on July 13th.. so nervousss :depressed::depressed:

secretly hoping they make an error and release them tomorrow instead haha
 
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Qester said:
3 weeks until the big day

Rx- 81%
nbme 12- 247
nbme 13- 258
nbme 15- 247
UWSA1- 256
UWSA2- 243
nbme16- 245
uWorld-80%, 40% complete

Still afraid I won't hit my 250 goal... Going to finish off uWorld, read first aid and sketchy micro/pharm...any other advice leading up to the big day?
Click to expand...

What was your opinion on UWSA 2? It looks like they fixed the scoring curve. I was considering taking it and was wondering if you thought it was a fair scale compared to the NBMEs. Exam is next week. Thanks for any help
 
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jack.jaret said:
What was your opinion on UWSA 2? It looks like they fixed the scoring curve. I was considering taking it and was wondering if you thought it was a fair scale compared to the NBMEs. Exam is next week. Thanks for any help
Click to expand...
I recently took both UWSA 1 and UWSA 2. The scores were pretty much on spot compared to NBMEs. The questions are much harder though and very comparable to UW questions in general.

UWSA 1 - 264
NMBE 13 - 262
UWSA 2 - 258
NBME 15 - 266

I took them one week apart from each other in that order.
 
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AnalisCanalis said:
I recently took both UWSA 1 and UWSA 2. The scores were pretty much on spot compared to NBMEs. The questions are much harder though and very comparable to UW questions in general.

UWSA 1 - 264
NMBE 13 - 262
UWSA 2 - 258
NBME 15 - 266

I took them one week apart from each other in that order.
Click to expand...

Perfect, I think they had some issues in the past but it looks like they changed it up recently. Congrats on the amazing scores, by the way!!
 
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I'm always wondering about score changes during final dedicated period of study.
You see in these 4 tests, there are no trends upward. However I believe AnalisCanalis is studying very hard everyday recently.
The phenomenon is also evident in other people's post.

Most people have consistent performance with their NBME and UWSA during dedicated studies.
This implies two things:
1. The scoring algorithm is mature and accurate
2. People don't improve much during the dedicated study period. They already knew the stuff, and cannot get more.

What do you think?

AnalisCanalis said:
I recently took both UWSA 1 and UWSA 2. The scores were pretty much on spot compared to NBMEs. The questions are much harder though and very comparable to UW questions in general.

UWSA 1 - 264
NMBE 13 - 262
UWSA 2 - 258
NBME 15 - 266

I took them one week apart from each other in that order.
Click to expand...
 
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StuartLiu said:
I'm always wondering about score changes during final dedicated period of study.
You see in these 4 tests, there are no trends upward. However I believe AnalisCanalis is studying very hard everyday recently.
The phenomenon is also evident in other people's post.

Most people have consistent performance with their NBME and UWSA during dedicated studies.
This implies two things:
1. The scoring algorithm is mature and accurate
2. People don't improve much during the dedicated study period. They already knew the stuff, and cannot get more.

What do you think?
Click to expand...
Yeah, but I left out my 243 on NBME 12 before starting dedicated. Besides, there's not a huge room for improvement once you reach 260+. For me it's more about building consistency than anything. Big scores don't matter if you can't repeat them on the real deal.
 
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There isn't much room to move further up if you're already sitting in the mid 260s. In such a case I believe the most you can do is continue working hard to ensure a hard/difficult/atypical form won't deny you the score you deserve, and perhaps squeeze in another 5 points or so.

For people entering dedicated with ~220 (and for that matter, IMGs, with such an estimate 1-3 months prior to their exam), I've regularly seen improvements of 20 or more points.
 
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I looked back at my UWorld Percentage:
Initially, I have about 70-75% correct before I start dedicated study
I now have 15% questions left, and I felt I've improved much.
However, I'm still 70-75% correct recently.

I aim for 250+ (as an IMG graduated many years ago I need this score)
My UWSA1 is 251 (2 weeks ago), and my NBME 15 is 241 (1 week ago).
I've finished FA twice, is studying pathoma, and I have 5 weeks left.

Any suggestions to help me pass 250?
Thanks!
 
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StuartLiu said:
I looked back at my UWorld Percentage:
Initially, I have about 70-75% correct before I start dedicated study
I now have 15% questions left, and I felt I've improved much.
However, I'm still 70-75% correct recently.

I aim for 250+ (as an IMG graduated many years ago I need this score)
My UWSA1 is 251 (2 weeks ago), and my NBME 15 is 241 (1 week ago).
I've finished FA twice, is studying pathoma, and I have 5 weeks left.

Any suggestions to help me pass 250?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Read and UNDERSTAND FA. Don't just memorize it. Other than that UFAP+Sketchy works wonders. Still waiting on my USMLE, but COMLEX went really well for me.
 
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Did anyone end the exam without a survey? When I completed my 7 blocks it said that I had completed the USMLE and that was it. No survey at the end
 
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Bandwagon1 said:
Did anyone end the exam without a survey? When I completed my 7 blocks it said that I had completed the USMLE and that was it. No survey at the end
Click to expand...

I didn't have a survey either. I thought it was just because Prometric wanted to close up shop and go home, but it was probably because I had used all the time for the exam.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile
 
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Hey guys! I took Step 1 a couple weeks ago, and wish I had learned about this forum before that because you guys seem to give such great advice! Anyway, I was hoping someone can answer a question I have about break time?

Has anyone who PASSED STEP 1 actually run over their allotted break time on the real exam? My test site was pretty busy, and unfortunately I got back in for my last block having gone 1-2 minutes over my break. I still finished all the Qs, but the entire time had a blinking red "warning" box at the bottom of my screen. I haven't gotten my score yet, but has anyone had this experience and still passed Step 1?

I only know 2 people who went over break time, and both failed by a couple points despite finishing their last block on time. When the one guy took Step 1 again, he passed by just a couple points, and this time had 1 min of break to spare. (The other person hasn't re-tested yet.) While I think going over break time by a minute is probably somewhat common, all of a sudden I'm worried it secretly means automatic failure. I'd love to hear your experiences. Thanks!
 
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Qester said:
3 weeks until the big day

Rx- 81%
nbme 12- 247
nbme 13- 258
nbme 15- 247
UWSA1- 256
UWSA2- 243
nbme16- 245
uWorld-80%, 40% complete

Still afraid I won't hit my 250 goal... Going to finish off uWorld, read first aid and sketchy micro/pharm...any other advice leading up to the big day?
Click to expand...
You're going to do great. Don't over think the questions, I took it yesterday and looking back, it was more first and second order than I expected (I was waiting for a 5th or 6th order question). Some questions are so simple you over think it. It's all a mind game. Trust yourself, and you're going to surpass your 250 goal. I flipped through FA and sketchy the week before and it was a nice relaxing review. Go get em!
 
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Central_SOULcus said:
Hey guys! I took Step 1 a couple weeks ago, and wish I had learned about this forum before that because you guys seem to give such great advice! Anyway, I was hoping someone can answer a question I have about break time?

Has anyone who PASSED STEP 1 actually run over their allotted break time on the real exam? My test site was pretty busy, and unfortunately I got back in for my last block having gone 1-2 minutes over my break. I still finished all the Qs, but the entire time had a blinking red "warning" box at the bottom of my screen. I haven't gotten my score yet, but has anyone had this experience and still passed Step 1?

I only know 2 people who went over break time, and both failed by a couple points despite finishing their last block on time. When the one guy took Step 1 again, he passed by just a couple points, and this time had 1 min of break to spare. (The other person hasn't re-tested yet.) While I think going over break time by a minute is probably somewhat common, all of a sudden I'm worried it secretly means automatic failure. I'd love to hear your experiences. Thanks!
Click to expand...
You can go back to the USMLE tutorial online and read it, but I don't think anywhere in there does it mention you getting an automatic fail for going over your break time. the red warning box was most likely to warn you that you had less time in your day left than you did for that last block. those people who failed step probably coincidentally went over their break time and also failed lol.
 
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jack.jaret said:
What was your opinion on UWSA 2? It looks like they fixed the scoring curve. I was considering taking it and was wondering if you thought it was a fair scale compared to the NBMEs. Exam is next week. Thanks for any help
Click to expand...
I felt like it was a tad bit harder, but generally pretty good
 
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jack.jaret said:
Do you think the scale is accurate? I take step in a few days and it's the last exam I'll be taking
Click to expand...
I thought they were good questions and the scale seemed reasonable.

I took it about 4 days before my exam and right after taking an NBME to simulate a full length exam. Had my best NBME (264+) and so I think I was a bit too relaxed and distracted going into it. Ended up in the mid 250's on the self assessment with several mistakes that I attribute to lack of focus but that seemed like a pretty appropriate score for how many I got wrong.
 
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jpwsurf21 said:
I thought they were good questions and the scale seemed reasonable.

I took it about 4 days before my exam and right after taking an NBME to simulate a full length exam. Had my best NBME (264+) and so I think I was a bit too relaxed and distracted going into it. Ended up in the mid 250's on the self assessment with several mistakes that I attribute to lack of focus but that seemed like a pretty appropriate score for how many I got wrong.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks!
 
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So how are scores released -- do we get an email with our score on a pdf or do we have to log into the nbme site?! Also, what time are score released approx? Trying to mentally prep for Wed, lol.
 
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jack.jaret said:
Do you think the scale is accurate? I take step in a few days and it's the last exam I'll be taking
Click to expand...

I took UWSA1 towards the start of my study period when my NBME average was 257, and scored a 273 (I believe that was a huge over shoot)

I took UWSA2 at the end, within a few days of NBME18 and got a 262 on both. So I think 2 was probably more accurate.
 
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ray656712 said:
I took UWSA1 towards the start of my study period when my NBME average was 257, and scored a 273 (I believe that was a huge over shoot)

I took UWSA2 at the end, within a few days of NBME18 and got a 262 on both. So I think 2 was probably more accurate.
Click to expand...

Okay, thanks. My NBME 15 score a week ago was a 207 and today UWSA 2 was a 230. I wasn't sure which one was a fluke. But that's good to know. Thanks a lot man!
 
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I have some thoughts about UW overall percentages.

I suppose that UW percentages are aggregates of all UW user usage, whether their are unused, incorrect, marked, and more importantly, 2nd pass after reset. Because UW is used by all students, it will reflect the whole population.

For any single user, unless you're usage behavior is significantly different then others, your UW percentages should accurately predict your actual USMLE percentage (because its your overall performances over months).

For example, assume you finish your 1st UWorld at 72% correct (which is 84% percentile). Because your 2nd pass should be higher, your 1st pass and 2nd pass aggregate will also be higher. Therefore you should expect a USMLE percentile > 84%, which is nearly 250. (According to official website: 220: 31%, 225: 39%, 230: 48%, 235: 58%, 240: 67%, 245: 76%, 250: 85%, 255: 91%, 260: 96%)

Any thoughts?
 
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AshNiffler said:
How did that go by the way? My exam is on Wednesday and I took NBME 18 yesterday, was it anything like your exam?
Click to expand...
Stems are longer than UW, shorter than NBME. Difficulty was on par with NBME for most questions IMO. Want a hard exam, but I didn't feel good about it because I forgot to brush up on some stuff from MS1 and it really burned me. That and I had some really bad test anxiety. Hoping I passed. And I got a 230 on NBME 18.
 
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StuartLiu said:
I have some thoughts about UW overall percentages.

I suppose that UW percentages are aggregates of all UW user usage, whether their are unused, incorrect, marked, and more importantly, 2nd pass after reset. Because UW is used by all students, it will reflect the whole population.

For any single user, unless you're usage behavior is significantly different then others, your UW percentages should accurately predict your actual USMLE percentage (because its your overall performances over months).

For example, assume you finish your 1st UWorld at 72% correct (which is 84% percentile). Because your 2nd pass should be higher, your 1st pass and 2nd pass aggregate will also be higher. Therefore you should expect a USMLE percentile > 84%, which is nearly 250. (According to official website: 220: 31%, 225: 39%, 230: 48%, 235: 58%, 240: 67%, 245: 76%, 250: 85%, 255: 91%, 260: 96%)

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
UW and USMLE percentiles are not comparable because USMLE percentiles are based on only US MDs, while UW percentiles use both a different type of questions and have a user base made up of US MDs, IMGs, and DOs. UW is a learning tool, not an assessment tool.
 
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Mad Jack said:
Stems are longer than UW, shorter than NBME. Difficulty was on par with NBME for most questions IMO. Want a hard exam, but I didn't feel good about it because I forgot to brush up on some stuff from MS1 and it really burned me. That and I had some really bad test anxiety. Hoping I passed. And I got a 230 on NBME 18.
Click to expand...

Stems on the NBME have seemed shorter than uworld to me so far, maybe it's because they span the entire width of the screen unlike in uworld?? I went from a 260 on NBME 17 to a 256 on NBME 18, there was definitely a different approach on 18 and of course I made silly mistakes, it's killing me...I shouldn't be doing that this late in the game. When you say 'stuff' do you mean like anatomy and histo?

Given your NBME score I think the odds are definitely in your favor.
 
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AshNiffler said:
Stems on the NBME have seemed shorter than uworld to me so far, maybe it's because they span the entire width of the screen unlike in uworld?? I went from a 260 on NBME 17 to a 256 on NBME 18, there was definitely a different approach on 18 and of course I made silly mistakes, it's killing me...I shouldn't be doing that this late in the game. When you say 'stuff' do you mean like anatomy and histo?

Given your NBME score I think the odds are definitely in your favor.
Click to expand...
It felt more like 17 than 18. As to what stuff- it's like, everything. It is not a hard exam, it just felt very broad and shallow. With your NBMEs you'll be fine if you don't overthink things. I fear I got too wrapped up in overthinking the questions and it hurt me a lot.
 
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