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

 

[akaMondo]

So....is it normal to be in a complete panic and not get anything accomplished two days out before the test?

Yep! All my friends took Step Friday, I took it the following Monday. I had to study while they partied all weekend. I didn't get much done at all. I studied a little bit Sunday but made myself stop because it was pointless that late in the game.

You've put in the time, friend. You'll be fine. It's totally natural to be extremely nervous, it's a tough test. I had never really been nervous for a test in my life, but I had really bad jitters pre-Step, especially the few days leading up to it.

 

[Bobcat18]

Hey guys just thought I would write up a quick summary on how I studied for step 1. My preparation consisted of UFAP + sketchy micro + sketchy pharm. In the end I went through first aid, pathoma and sketchy micro 3 times total and sketchy pharm twice. For me getting started with studying was the hardest part. I knew I wanted to go through everything 3 times but just didn't know where to start. One of the best decisions I made and one that many people don't mention in this forum is the use of Cramfighter. Cramfighter allowed me to focus on studying while not worrying about whether or not I would finish 3 passes in time. I liked how it planned my every day and allowed me to rebalance my schedule if I got behind- this definitely helped decrease my stress and made the USMLE seem manageable. In the end I agree with what everyone on this forum has been saying- the most important thing for the step 1 is a great foundation. Learning the information well during your first two years of classes is paramount to succeeding on the USMLE. Also, I would recommend incorporating Pathoma, FA, and Sketchy into your studying during the first two years of classes. It was nice studying for step1 from resources that I was already familiar with.

For those interested in seeing my practice scores:

NBME 15: 215- 5 weeks out
13: 239- 4 weeks out
12: 224- 3 weeks out
16: 245- 2 weeks out
17: 226- 11 days out
18: 237- 10 days out
Uworld average- 72% (only did 1 pass)
Real USMLE: 249

Good luck studying! Feel free to message me if you have any questions 🙂

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

Yep! All my friends took Step Friday, I took it the following Monday. I had to study while they partied all weekend. I didn't get much done at all. I studied a little bit Sunday but made myself stop because it was pointless that late in the game.

You've put in the time, friend. You'll be fine. It's totally natural to be extremely nervous, it's a tough test. I had never really been nervous for a test in my life, but I had really bad jitters pre-Step, especially the few days leading up to it.

I "re-did" an old NBME today because I needed something to boost my confidence. For any of the questions I did remember from the first go, they were real "WTF" questions but this time around I felt like I had an approach for them or was better able to process-of-eliminate better than the first time. NBME 16 - 258. Not sure how much stock to take in it since it was a redo. I thought doing that would help boost my confidence a little but for whatever reason I'm just more self-doubting now and I lost 4 hours. Phooie.

 

[Birdie89]

A little about my experience:

Score: 265
Baseline NMBE 240
3 or 4 other NBMEs 256-266
Uworld: 270, 260
Got about 85% right on uworld the first time through.

I had 6 months total with 4 weeks dedicated. During school I did Uworld once, read first aid once, watched sketchy micro, did pathoma once. Then in dedicated I did Uworld again, read first aid, watched pathoma again. Then when I was about 5 days out I listened to Goljan and would re-visit first aid for pathology in those sections to keep fresh on big concepts because I felt that I spent a lot of time learning details during dedicated (after nailing big concepts during school.)

But I do attribute most of my success to doing well in classes. I learned the material well the first time so reviewing it for step allowed me to hammer in smaller things. I found taking practice tests to be extremely helpful because I learned how to just take the test in a way that worked for me. I tried different things like reading the question stem first, but ultimately found I did best just by reading from the beginning of a question. I learned to figure out which answer choice probably wasn't right when I got it down to 2 (which my strategy was if I could associate one with another disease, I wouldn't choose it.) I also found that just immediately choosing an answer when I didn't know, flagging, and moving on gave me about 15 minutes at the end of each block to go and critically think through the tough ones and I didn't have to worry about running out of time.

Anyway, just my 2 cents about it. But I really do feel that it is crucial to pick a couple things you like and learn them well. It's easy to get bogged down on too many resources.

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

Hey guys just thought I would write up a quick summary on how I studied for step 1. My preparation consisted of UFAP + sketchy micro + sketchy pharm. In the end I went through first aid, pathoma and sketchy micro 3 times total and sketchy pharm twice. For me getting started with studying was the hardest part. I knew I wanted to go through everything 3 times but just didn't know where to start. One of the best decisions I made and one that many people don't mention in this forum is the use of Cramfighter. Cramfighter allowed me to focus on studying while not worrying about whether or not I would finish 3 passes in time. I liked how it planned my every day and allowed me to rebalance my schedule if I got behind- this definitely helped decrease my stress and made the USMLE seem manageable. In the end I agree with what everyone on this forum has been saying- the most important thing for the step 1 is a great foundation. Learning the information well during your first two years of classes is paramount to succeeding on the USMLE. Also, I would recommend incorporating Pathoma, FA, and Sketchy into your studying during the first two years of classes. It was nice studying for step1 from resources that I was already familiar with.

For those interested in seeing my practice scores:

NBME 15: 215- 5 weeks out
13: 239- 4 weeks out
12: 224- 3 weeks out
16: 245- 2 weeks out
17: 226- 11 days out
18: 237- 10 days out
Uworld average- 72% (only did 1 pass)
Real USMLE: 249

Good luck studying! Feel free to message me if you have any questions 🙂

Our 16 and 17 are very similar to one another, I hope this can be a beacon of hope for me

 

[recycledpaper]

Don't understand why you'd retake an NBME at this point. Either study or rest/relax.

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

Don't understand why you'd retake an NBME at this point. Either study or rest/relax.

Wildcard / panic move, and that's okay - you don't owe me understanding ;-)

 

[lurkylurky]

Just wanted to briefly add my experience as well:

Background: MD; Mix of Honors with all A's in M1-M2 at east coast school.
Pre-dedicated NBME's: 205
NBME 18 (4 weeks out): 265 <--- freaked the eff out and thought this was a joke/fluke
NBME 17 (3 weeks out): 277 <-- felt like this one tested me on the stuff i really knew
NBME 15 (2 weeks out): 269
UWorld Form #1 (2 weeks out): 268
NBME 16 (1 week out): 271
UWorld Form #2 (days out): 262
Free 120: 93%
UWorld Qbank average: mid-80's with 90's by the end.

USMLE (mid-May): 250's

So as you can see, I dropped quite a bit relative to my NBME's - of course I am not complaining at all. Very happy to be in this range. But this does lead me to a couple of talking points:

1). I have never let nerves get the best of me before - not in sports, not on the MCAT, not while assisting in surgery, etc. But for some reason I could NOT shake them on test day. I think this is reflected in my score. If you are feeling this nervous on test day, shut them nerves down somehow. Do some pushups. Listen to something inspirational, it doesn't matter. Do not let these feelings fester.

2). Despite the nerves, what kept me in this 250+ range was definitely doing well in school since day 1. Studying to understand WHY things happen and what would happen if various parameters were changed - this approach is what keeps you in a 240+ range on Step no matter the testing day conditions. Leave all memorization to Pharm flashcards and Sketchy.

3). Something I wish someone had told me - I flagged anywhere from 10-20 questions per section (and I am a relatively conservative flagger), and I left the test in a daze of terror and depression. I thought I would be lucky to break 220. I made the big mistake of checking questions afterwards and realized I made upwards of 15 EASY mistakes before I made myself stop consulting wikipedia. Avoidable mistakes - this is why I didn't break my NBME average.

If anyone has questions on preparation, test day, or Pokemon-Go, get at me! 😉

Lurker most of the time but saw this and had to re-quote bc truth needs to be told and retold! My experience echoes yours!

I did well in M1-M2 classes and school administered CBSE (3 weeks before actual Step) was 99 percentile (>260). Background: studied UFAP extensively throughout the year with Bro's anki (flashcards on reddit), & supplemented with Kaplan Qbank and Rx Aprilish (Step was early June). My question bank avgs were decent (i was getting 88-100% by the end of M2). had 3 weeks of dedicated study after 2nd year and for some reason, spent the majority of those weeks obsessing over memorizing minor details in FA instead of DOING QUESTIONS that would have reinforced 1) MY BASIC SCIENCES FOUNDATION and 2) MY CONFIDENCE. On reflection, my nerves built more and more as I found more and more silly little details in FA that I hadn't yet memorized. What I should've done was questions upon questions to build my test-taking strategies. I barely took any NBMEs at this point (had a couple of offline versions and barely attempted them-- -_-). Nerves got the best of me on test day and made SO MANY SILLY MISTAKES! I overthought those "gimme" qs and couldn't answer trickier ones because my conceptual grasp was weakened. Your brain shuts down when you are anxious/stressed...really 🙁

My step 1 score was mid-250s

Like the person I quoted, what kept my score up was making sure I learned m1-m2 material well. Additionally, when I went through FA, if there was a detail I didn't understand, I would look it up. No cutting corners. Understand in order to memorize, don't just memorize. (Ex. why does it say in FA that kids usually get volvulus or appendicitis after a viral illness? bc the lymphoid tissue in the ileum enlarges after an infection...or something like that--sorry if poor/inaccurate example)

Other garbled advice/to sum up: First, learn/study well & do questions to supplement ( I would go w/Kaplan Qbank and Rx during the year, and start Uworld mid-Feb/Apr instead of the other way around as I had done). Go thru FA multiple times of course but then do as many qs in the last couple of weeks and try to get as many right as you can. If at first you don't know the answer, don't just guess blindly. THINK about it and if you still don't know, take a break and come back. The info is in your head somewhere if you've studied well, practice finding it. Don't overthink. Also, RELAX in the study period (you've put in hard work all 2 years, study STEADILY, don't stress yourself out and take breaks) Finally, if you've done thousands of questions, then you have seen most of the tested info, so don't pick a thing you've never heard of as the answer unless you've ruled out everything else. Trust yourself and your memory. relax relax relax. you got this.

I'm so grateful to have finally crawled out of this step 1 terror tunnel ayeeeeeee. Good luck!

Msg me if any qs

 

[daolso]

Posting my writeup. Feel free to ask any questions.


CBSE (6 months before): 253
NBME 11: 258
NBME 16: 264
NBME 1: 257
NBME 17: 273
NBME 2: 261
NBME 3: 256
NBME 12: 269
NBME 4: 270
NBME 5: 260
NBME 6: 259
NBME 13: 271
NBME 18: 264
NBME 7: 261
NBME 15: 266
Step 1: 272


Grades: P in Anatomy, H in everything else

Resources: First Aid. UWorld (once during the year, once in 4 week dedicated review), Kaplan (dedicated), USMLERx (school year). Goljan and Pathoma (school year), BRS (only do if you have tons of extra time). Robbins and Cotran, Robbins Review of Pathology (school year). Lionel Raymon Pharmacology, Thieme Pharmacology Test Prep (school year). Draw It to Know It, Haines Atlas (school year). Costanzo. NBME exams (mostly dedicated).



Overall, my impression of the exam is that it is very similar to the NBME practice and/or UWorld. Definitely very heavy in pathophysiology with a decent amount of micro/immune and biostats.

There were a few questions on each block that I was unsure of. Some more than others. I ended up looking up the answers to about 15 questions, of which I missed 5. I’m sure I missed more throughout that I didn’t realize. I made at least one or two stupid mistakes (I said septic shock was low output, damn it). Also missed some crazy drug and embryology questions.

Timing was never a problem for me. I could finish a block of 40 questions with 20 minutes or more left in the hour, which left me plenty of time to go back and think about the marked.

I did not really plan my breaks beforehand, just left to eat when I was tired or hungry (I believe it was 3 blocks, then 2, then 2 more). I left the exam feeling pretty good. I knew I missed some, but expected something >260 at least.

I would say that doing well in classes is the single most important factor in getting a high score. Next most important is quantity and quality of review questions. There is probably an element of general standardized test taking skill as well.

Congratulations to those finished, and good luck to everyone still studying.

 

[DrPicard]

Congratulations to everyone!

I do have some questions, @cooltrumpet. But first, thats an incredible score!

Can I ask if there's still some value in doing the old NBMEs? How did you go about deriving USMLE estimates from them? (I've heard NBME score x 1.4)

 

[daolso]

Congratulations to everyone!

I do have some questions, @cooltrumpet. But first, thats an incredible score!

Can I ask if there's still some value in doing the old NBMEs? How did you go about deriving USMLE estimates from them? (I've heard NBME score x 1.4)

I used this chart... not sure how accurate it is. To be honest, I didn't take all of the old ones as if they were full exams (didn't time myself, didn't go back and check answers until the end, etc); I just used them as additional study material.

I think there are some worthwhile questions in the old NBMEs, but only if you have extra time. There are a lot of repeats between exams, and a lot of "easy" questions compared to UWorld or Kaplan. I would typically get 93-95% right. I do think I learned something new on every NBME. There are some obscure facts buried within each.

 

[DrPicard]

Thanks! I'd been considering doing the older NBMEs exactly in the fashion you mentioned. I think I'll go ahead with them now.

Question for anyone who can help: How did you go guys about preparing for patho/micro pictures, radiology, and EKGs? Is going through webpath a good idea? Most people where I'm at don't, and the general consensus is that pathoma/goljan slides/uworld is enough. Furthermore, are there any good books/atlases/sites to look up micro pictures?

For radiology I'm considering skimming through Learning Radiology (read it once a year ago), and googling for augmentation. I *think* this should be enough.

 

[walakin25]

Just wanted to briefly add my experience as well:

Background: MD; Mix of Honors with all A's in M1-M2 at east coast school.
Pre-dedicated NBME's: 205
NBME 18 (4 weeks out): 265 <--- freaked the eff out and thought this was a joke/fluke
NBME 17 (3 weeks out): 277 <-- felt like this one tested me on the stuff i really knew
NBME 15 (2 weeks out): 269
UWorld Form #1 (2 weeks out): 268
NBME 16 (1 week out): 271
UWorld Form #2 (days out): 262
Free 120: 93%
UWorld Qbank average: mid-80's with 90's by the end.

USMLE (mid-May): 250's

So as you can see, I dropped quite a bit relative to my NBME's - of course I am not complaining at all. Very happy to be in this range. But this does lead me to a couple of talking points:

1). I have never let nerves get the best of me before - not in sports, not on the MCAT, not while assisting in surgery, etc. But for some reason I could NOT shake them on test day. I think this is reflected in my score. If you are feeling this nervous on test day, shut them nerves down somehow. Do some pushups. Listen to something inspirational, it doesn't matter. Do not let these feelings fester.

2). Despite the nerves, what kept me in this 250+ range was definitely doing well in school since day 1. Studying to understand WHY things happen and what would happen if various parameters were changed - this approach is what keeps you in a 240+ range on Step no matter the testing day conditions. Leave all memorization to Pharm flashcards and Sketchy.

3). Something I wish someone had told me - I flagged anywhere from 10-20 questions per section (and I am a relatively conservative flagger), and I left the test in a daze of terror and depression. I thought I would be lucky to break 220. I made the big mistake of checking questions afterwards and realized I made upwards of 15 EASY mistakes before I made myself stop consulting wikipedia. Avoidable mistakes - this is why I didn't break my NBME average.

If anyone has questions on preparation, test day, or Pokemon-Go, get at me! 😉

Are you single? Congrats btw great score 😉

 

[walakin25]

Wow... great scores everyone! SDN is truly home of the future bosses in healthcare. Special shoutout to those who msged me and killed it, have a shot for me this weekend y'all! Stay safe all and great job again.

 

[debeer22]

Big lurker but got my score Wednesday

Step1: 268
Cbse: 240 (6 wks)
Nbme 15: 249 (5wks)
Nbme 16: 260 (4 wks)
Uwsa1: 271 (3 wks)
Nbme 18: 256 (2 wks)
Uwsa 2: 264
Nbme 17: 264

Just used UFAP + sketchy; repeat

 

[LittleFoot]

I would say that this does not apply to the majority, you're not even sure yet if it applies to you no offense. For future people who read this: This approach could easily turn someone into a C student with an average step 1 as you aren't cementing concepts as they are being presented. The best thing you can do (if you are able) is crush your school exams but set aside time every day to review step content with obvious periods of time where you can't, like the week leading up to an exam.

I think the misunderstanding many medical students have is that learning M1 and M2 material well does not always equal doing well in classes. This is especially true depending on where you go to school. I too, took the "sacrifice some points for more board study" approach, especially during the last semester of M2, and it absolutely worked for me.

However, I don't think I would recommend this strategy to anyone for a couple of reasons:

1) From my experience, many medical students lack a strong ability to decifer between what is high yield and what is absolutely useless information that the professor will test on. If you go to a school where your professors don't frequently test on useless information, then the argument that doing well in classes is key to doing well on Step 1 probably becomes stronger. However, at my school, for example, I'm currently working on a research project looking at correlations between specific professors' exam questions and board scores. I haven't published anything yet, but I've looked at the data and while some professors have an extremely strong correlation between their test questions and board scores, many are weak correlations, and some of our professors even have a negative correlation with board scores. Being able to figure out what information was worth knowing for the boards was one of my strengths.

2) Due to the high levels of neuroticism of medical students, I honestly don't think many can bring themselves to bite the bullet and sacrifice those points. And even if they did, I think the anxiety of missing those points would have even more of a negative effect than the extra time earned by doing it.

This strategy helped me get a great score. I did better than most of my classmates at the very top (I'm in the bottom half of my class) maybe because they were focused on memorizing minutiae for class and didn't dedicate enough time to boards. Granted, I don't go to a top medical school. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but I think it's important to realize that it can be the key to success for some students.

 

[Pholston]

Are you single? Congrats btw great score 😉

All the good one's are already taken.😀

 

[pawprint]

This was my path:

6 months out CBSE1: 190
4 months out CBSE2: 185
6 weeks out CBSE3: 205
4 weeks out UWA1: 219
3 weeks out UWA2: 224
2 weeks out NBME 17: 232
1 week out NBME 18: 241
STEP 1: 232

I started studying 6 weeks out after my final CBSE. I did all of DIT in 2 weeks with 1 UWord block per day, then did 2 UWorld blocks per day + read all of First Aid + Rx Questions for next 2 weeks, then final 2 weeks I did just UWorld questions. I finished the UWorld Qbank 3 days before my test, averaging 65-80% per block. I had completed pathoma and sketchy micro during the school year and didn't go back through them. Honestly, I felt like I peaked 1 week before my test (after 5 weeks of dedicated study) and it seems my scores reflect that. However, that being said, I was ecstatic to see my 232! I am military (Navy) and interested in pediatrics so I'm in good shape. I will also say that I felt horrible, like I had failed, walking out of the test. When I took my MCAT I had felt really good walking away (and actually did do well), but this test I felt like I had bombed it. I know a lot of easy questions I missed due to second guessing myself and I could have easily brought my score up at least another 10-15 points had I not missed as many of those. But like I said, I'm very proud of my 232!

Also, as another side note, my UWA1 and UWA2 scores are from before they modified the scores. Once they changed the way they scaled them, my scores for both are in the upper 240's/low 250's...which is obviously wrong. Their old scoring system was far more accurate, so unless they update their scores again, I wouldn't trust those results.

 

[Vonwillebrantastic]

Their old scoring system was far more accurate, so unless they update their scores again, I wouldn't trust those results.

Thank you for the post and congrats on your score! I'm currently 2 weeks out and took UWA1 two weeks ago. Just wondering when the changes were made to their scoring system? And where could I find the old scoring system? Thanks!

 

[pawprint]

Thank you for the post and congrats on your score! I'm currently 2 weeks out and took UWA1 two weeks ago. Just wondering when the changes were made to their scoring system? And where could I find the old scoring system? Thanks!

Thanks! I took them in May. UWorld had switched from 44 question blocks to 40 question blocks to mimic the actual test, but a few weeks after they reduced the questions per block they updated their scoring algorithm. Some of my friends scores dropped dramatically, some increased dramatically, some stayed about the same. I think it's still good to do them since they are good simulations and have good questions, but if you score super high or super low I wouldn't be too concerned...the NBME tests seem to be more spot on with scoring accuracy

 

[Vonwillebrantastic]

Thanks! I took them in May. UWorld had switched from 44 question blocks to 40 question blocks to mimic the actual test, but a few weeks after they reduced the questions per block they updated their scoring algorithm. Some of my friends scores dropped dramatically, some increased dramatically, some stayed about the same. I think it's still good to do them since they are good simulations and have good questions, but if you score super high or super low I wouldn't be too concerned...the NBME tests seem to be more spot on with scoring accuracy

Thanks for the info. I'll probably only have time for one more (maybe two) practice tests. Considering this info, I think I'll go with NBME 17 instead of UWA2.

 

[jpwsurf21]

Just a quick write up - scored a 259 on step I.

1st year - not much to say - was above median on most exams and worked relatively hard but didn't take my studying to seriously during this time. Did not once look at FA or firecracker.

2nd year - Started doing Firecracker from day 1. Really loved using this program and attribute much of my score to this and I always did my daily questions. There's a lot of info that's not in First Aid and honestly, other than mnemonics, the extra stuff wasn't very useful to my actual exam but the organization and format of the program was definitely worth it to me. My one gripe was that I relied a little too heavily on it towards the end and assumed it was doing enough review of past topics within 2 months of entering dedicated when it really didn't. At that point, I should have gotten out my FA book and started going through old organ systems. As reluctant as I was to admit because FC was so great, at the end of the day - First Aid is king. During 2nd year, I focused a lot on FC but also on class - I think my average on exams was somewhere in the top 5 of the class.

NBME 18: 245 (7 weeks)
-----Dedicated------
NBME 12: 251 (4 weeks)
NBME 13: 258 (2.5 weeks)
NBME 15: 262 + UWSA1: 270+ (1 week)
NBME 16: 266 + UWSA2: 265+ (4 days)
NBME 17: 262 + Free 120: 90%+ (2 days)
Uworld 1st pass: 80%
Uworld 2nd pass: 94%

About the exam: I felt awful coming out of there and starting thinking about the specialties I would be crossing out since I was convinced I did not break 245 - I want to stress to future readers that this wasn't an exaggeration - I truly felt that I scored well well well below my average. There are several REALLY dumb mistakes that still haunt me since I was so close to breaking 260 and initially I was disappointed given that my last week was strongly in the 260+ category but after remembering how crappy I felt right after the exam, I'm very happy with my score (stupid med school ego). As far as I know, it won't hold me back from any specialty.

Definitely second-guessed myself on test day, more so than NBME's and it's hard to take advice like "trust your instincts" but it really is true. Normally I don't have that issue and consider myself a pretty good test taker (MCAT >38) but there are 4 really dumb ones off the top of my head that I changed to the incorrect answer with less than a minute left on a couple of blocks and I don't think there were really any that I changed at the last minute from wrong to right.

Last bit of advice: I wouldn't take a practice test within 3-4 days of the exam. I wish I could have just spent that time reviewing FA, Sketchy, and any UWorld notes I had made - definitely would have made me more confident heading in to the test.

 

[PootieTang1]

.

 

[PowerDan]

NBME 12: 251 (3 months out)
UWSA1: 277 (1 month out)
NBME 13: 271 (3 weeks out)
NBME 15 271 (3 weeks out)
NBME 14: 271 (2 weeks out)
NBME 17: 271 (1 week out)
NBME 18: 269 (1 week out)
UWSA2: 269 (5 days out)
NBME 16: 277 (2 days out) --> saved this for confidence based on classmate recommendation
USMLE Step 1: 274

Is there an NBME 14?

 

[W19]

Is there an NBME 14?

no.

 

[BMSc2DO]

My experience...
I'm a DO student and took both USMLE and COMLEX. I used USMLE RX, UWorld, Cramfighter, Pathoma, and First Aid. And the NBME exams of course. Start in December with USMLE Rx, about 44qs/day, random, timed. I then read about 20 pages of FA and 10 Pathoma per day. Did this until mid-Feb. Then I did the same thing but with UWorld. Started UWorld SA exams 6 weeks out. Then did 1 NBME every week until my exam and did 2 the week before.

UW SAs: 260 and 265
NBMEs: 254-266

After the USMLE I felt awful since my first 2 blocks I had marked over 1/2 the questions, when I usually marked 5-7 per block on the practice exams. I predicted 220-240.

Actual USMLE: 260
COMLEX: 700

Trust your practice scores. For DO students, don't study for COMLEX with COMBANK or whatever. Just study hard for USMLE and review some OPP the week before and you will do fine.

 

[VT5592]

I know most people feel really bad after their exam, and they end up doing fine. But I honestly have convinced myself that I have failed, and I am so miserable at the thought of perhaps not having passed the exam. I haven't been able to sleep for days. I think my biggest fear is I will be one of those people who does 10-15 points less than my NBME average and then I am screwed since my NBME average isn't even that high to begin with. As much as I want my score back this wed, I am so terrified that I don't know if I can even open it without passing out. I don't even know how to go about calming down at this point 🙁

 

[wjs010]

I know most people feel really bad after their exam, and they end up doing fine. But I honestly have convinced myself that I have failed, and I am so miserable at the thought of perhaps not having passed the exam. I haven't been able to sleep for days. I think my biggest fear is I will be one of those people who does 10-15 points less than my NBME average and then I am screwed since my NBME average isn't even that high to begin with. As much as I want my score back this wed, I am so terrified that I don't know if I can even open it without passing out. I don't even know how to go about calming down at this point 🙁

It's okay. Trust me many people feel exactly how you did. You need to trust you nbme's. Please get some sleep. Just cross that bridge when it gets here! Try to take some melatonin if you can to get some sleep. You'll feel better Wednesday regardless of what happens. Knowing is so much better than waiting. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[VT5592]

It's okay. Trust me many people feel exactly how you did. You need to trust you nbme's. Please get some sleep. Just cross that bridge when it gets here! Try to take some melatonin if you can to get some sleep. You'll feel better Wednesday regardless of what happens. Knowing is so much better than waiting. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

thank you for your response, I am definitely going to take some melatonin lol great suggestion. Here's to hoping I will feel relief come Wednesday. I never knew medical school would test my patience so much haha

 

[texasholdems]

Is the REAL step testing program similar to NBME or U World? (in terms of seeing question number list, marks, review of question list etc, time left, lab values)

Also, we don't get the heart sounds to listen to answer questions (u world style)....right?

 

[Postictal Raiden]

Is the REAL step testing program similar to NBME or U World? (in terms of seeing question number list, marks, review of question list etc, time left, lab values)

Also, we don't get the heart sounds to listen to answer questions (u world style)....right?

Identical to UW. Heart sounds are way better on the real test.

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

Tomorrow, I sail into history!

 

[ortnakas]

My experience...
For DO students, don't study for COMLEX with COMBANK or whatever. Just study hard for USMLE and review some OPP the week before and you will do fine.

First-- MAJOR props on both of your scores, that's awesome!

Second-- I'm not sure that this piece of advice is generalizable to the <260/<700 population. The question style on COMLEX is different enough that I think there's some value in getting a bit of practice with it. UWorld is by far the better q-bank, and you definitely learn a lot more from it, but for most people getting some practice with COMLEX-style questions is a good idea.

 

[dfib slim]

My experience...
I'm a DO student and took both USMLE and COMLEX. I used USMLE RX, UWorld, Cramfighter, Pathoma, and First Aid. And the NBME exams of course. Start in December with USMLE Rx, about 44qs/day, random, timed. I then read about 20 pages of FA and 10 Pathoma per day. Did this until mid-Feb. Then I did the same thing but with UWorld. Started UWorld SA exams 6 weeks out. Then did 1 NBME every week until my exam and did 2 the week before.

UW SAs: 260 and 265
NBMEs: 254-266

After the USMLE I felt awful since my first 2 blocks I had marked over 1/2 the questions, when I usually marked 5-7 per block on the practice exams. I predicted 220-240.

Actual USMLE: 260
COMLEX: 700

Trust your practice scores. For DO students, don't study for COMLEX with COMBANK or whatever. Just study hard for USMLE and review some OPP the week before and you will do fine.

Solid plan and it paid off.

 

[lunchbox2]

Score: 250!!!! Ok so here goes my write up. I'm a DO student in the top quartile of my class. We got 6 weeks off and I used them as: 4 weeks to study, 1 test week, 1 vacation week. It's really important to learn the material in first and second year like everyone says. Don't think you can relearn or learn for the first time everything from the past 2 years in 4 weeks. Not possible. Those 4 weeks are for review. Whoever says you only need dedicated to study is wrong in my opinion. Like I said I do well in classes but was very grateful I started studying before dedicated. That way I didn't have to put in 12-14 hour days and only did 8-10 hour days to keep my sanity. Plus schedule yourself at least a half day off a week for relaxing and going out with friends. It keeps you refreshed and ready to go. I also kept up my dedicated weightlifting schedule of 3-4x per week for 2 hours at a time. My poor coach had to deal with several of us medical students freaking out about boards lol. We all survived. But it was great stress relief taking it out on the barbell.

So during classes I did Pathoma, FA and worked through 2/3rds of USMLERx. In the spring of second year I also started going through UWorld on random, tutor mode because I needed to work some days during dedicated. Also an upperclassman told me to go through Pathoma videos again before dedicated and again during dedicated. This was very helpful. Also you need to pretty much have First Aid down - like memorized and understood. First Aid and Pathoma are the most high yield resources that you have to know. Do as many NBMEs as you can.

COMLEX - our school gave us COMBANK - I tried a couple questions from there but didn't like it so didn't use it. Just read the green book the 2 days between STEP and COMLEX. Also check out Dr. Crow's OMM review book because I heard it's good as well.

CBSE 4/16 - 209
COMSAE D 5/6 - 505
UWSA1 5/7 - 214
UWSA2 5/13 - 234
NBME 15 5/18 - 217
NBME 13 5/21- 228
NBME 16 5/25 - 226
NBME 18 6/1 - 239
NBME 17 6/3 - 254

USMLE 6/6 - 250!!!
COMLEX 6/9- 659

UWorld average first pass untimed tutor random - 68% - did maybe 300 of my wrongs but wasn't getting much out of them so quit
Pathoma - 1x with class, 1x again completely in April-May, and 1x again completely in dedicated
First Aid - 1x with class, then 2.5x during dedicated
Sketchy Micro - made it through all the bacteria and some of the viruses during dedicated
Read a couple BRS Physio chapters during dedicated

Taking the test - no timing issues but that's never been a problem for me. I marked at least 10 per block that I had to make educated or flat out guesses on. But having read about past experiences here where people that scored >260 didn't know all the questions, I didn't freak out. Make sure you don't freak out while taking it that you're marking so many. Take each block as a new test and don't let the previous ones affect you.

Thanks to the Class of 2018 Board Study Group thread for keeping me sane during this process 🙂

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

Just took Step 1: I'll be lucky if I can get a Geriatrics Residency......in Saigon.

 

[doyouhaveaflag]

Just took Step 1: I'll be lucky if I can get a Geriatrics Residency......in Saigon.

OK, come back and tell us about your 250+ in a few weeks 🙂

In the meantime, may I recommend alcohol? (Congrats on finishing!)

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

OK, come back and tell us about your 250 in a few weeks 🙂

In the meantime, may I recommend alcohol?

I sincerely, sincerely, sincerely hope you're right. I know the going rate lately has been "trust your NBMEs" - but this past week, I felt it would be a good idea to address some knowledge gaps I felt existed in my coverage, where I had been up until that point really just patting myself on the back for knowing cardio/immuno/endocrine well and kept reviewing those subjects - there was alot of cardio/immuno/endocrine on my test and my acuity for alot of things was lost over the past week - so I'm really hoping that after today I can still "confide in my NBME", but I'll be lucky to get above a 200 - and no I don't think I'll breathe a sigh of relief if I get a 200+.

I think I'll need to re-evaluate how I study for this sort of thing, and get a very early start on Step2 CK so I can take it and hopefully crush it before ERAS submission.

 

[Bobcat18]

You'll be fine. I've found that most of the people who do well on the step leave the testing center feeling defeated while those who think the test was easy usually don't do so hot (obviously there are exceptions). Relax and go celebrate!

I sincerely, sincerely, sincerely hope you're right. I know the going rate lately has been "trust your NBMEs" - but this past week, I felt it would be a good idea to address some knowledge gaps I felt existed in my coverage, where I had been up until that point really just patting myself on the back for knowing cardio/immuno/endocrine well and kept reviewing those subjects - there was alot of cardio/immuno/endocrine on my test and my acuity for alot of things was lost over the past week - so I'm really hoping that after today I can still "confide in my NBME", but I'll be lucky to get above a 200 - and no I don't think I'll breathe a sigh of relief if I get a 200+.

I think I'll need to re-evaluate how I study for this sort of thing, and get a very early start on Step2 CK so I can take it and hopefully crush it before ERAS submission.

 

[Transposony]

I sincerely, sincerely, sincerely hope you're right. I know the going rate lately has been "trust your NBMEs" - but this past week, I felt it would be a good idea to address some knowledge gaps I felt existed in my coverage, where I had been up until that point really just patting myself on the back for knowing cardio/immuno/endocrine well and kept reviewing those subjects - there was alot of cardio/immuno/endocrine on my test and my acuity for alot of things was lost over the past week - so I'm really hoping that after today I can still "confide in my NBME", but I'll be lucky to get above a 200 - and no I don't think I'll breathe a sigh of relief if I get a 200+.

I think I'll need to re-evaluate how I study for this sort of thing, and get a very early start on Step2 CK so I can take it and hopefully crush it before ERAS submission.

Again, trust your NBMEs

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

Again, trust your NBMEs

I think the issue was being able to trust myself on the exam :/

Anyway, not trying to hijack this thread and turn it into some personal whine outlet.

Will report back in a month, hopefully in better spirits than I am today

 

[Postictal Raiden]

I sincerely, sincerely, sincerely hope you're right. I know the going rate lately has been "trust your NBMEs" - but this past week, I felt it would be a good idea to address some knowledge gaps I felt existed in my coverage, where I had been up until that point really just patting myself on the back for knowing cardio/immuno/endocrine well and kept reviewing those subjects - there was alot of cardio/immuno/endocrine on my test and my acuity for alot of things was lost over the past week - so I'm really hoping that after today I can still "confide in my NBME", but I'll be lucky to get above a 200 - and no I don't think I'll breathe a sigh of relief if I get a 200+.

I think I'll need to re-evaluate how I study for this sort of thing, and get a very early start on Step2 CK so I can take it and hopefully crush it before ERAS submission.

As others said, you need to trust your NBME performances. I was going nuts after the test too. Go back and read my comments in this thread a month ago and you'll get the idea. My score is above anything I had dreamed of.

 

[dirty630]

Got my score back Wednesday, haven't posted yet because I'm on my surgery clerkship.
NBME 12 (3 months before): 269
UWSA1 (2 months before): 265+
UWSA2 (1.5 months before): 265+
NBME 15 (4 weeks before): 271
NBME 16 (3 weeks before): 269
NBME 18 (2 weeks before): 266
NBME 17 (1 week before): 269
Step 1: 272

As many others in this thread have said, doing well in classes is the way to do well on step. I got all honors except for Behavioral Science, and it made reviewing the material during dedicated MUCH easier. I used USMLE-Rx along with classes to learn FA alongside classes. It is my personal opinion that practice questions are the single best tool to learn. Most of my energy went towards classes during the year, with spare time being spent on step starting in January (20 tutor UWorld Q's/day + 1 chapter of FA & Pathoma of previous material per week).

Materials used during the school year for learning class material:
USMLE-Rx
Kaplan Pharmacology Videos
Pathoma
Utah Questions
Robbins Review Book (the question book)
First Aid + Annotations (don't over annotate, it has almost everything you need)
Sketchy Micro

Materials used during dedicated or specifically for step:
UWorld
FA
Pathoma
Sketchy Micro
A study partner

The pretty standard study materials, but the study partner experience may be a little unique. My day consisted of Uworld and Pathoma in the morning, and FA in the afternoon. Instead of reading FA, my partner and I discussed FA. The lack of explanations in FA are killer if you don't understand everything perfectly, so we would read the book to each other and discuss what everything meant if either of us were confused. There were multiple times on the exam that I'd get a question and think "oh right, my friend specifically said X happens because Y, so this is the right answer." This method might not work for everyone, but I enjoyed it and it worked well for me.

Step was harder than any of the NBMEs, with anatomy I hadn't seen since first year and pathology I'd never seen in any resource. There will be questions you don't know the answer to, and you will make stupid mistakes (I made at least a couple). Trust your NBME scores.

 

[dr_zami]

Hello!
I am glad I am writing here down on SDN forum for the first time. Thought to be the part of this great venture which help me to maintain my last day panicitiy :
Real Deal : 247(Exam Date 16,June, '16)
UWSA 2- 262(3 Days Before)
UWSA 1 -245(2 Months Before)
NMBE 15-249 (1.5 Month before)
NBME 16-252(Done at same day as UWSA 2)
NMBE 17-262(15 days before).


I am glad that I got this score but at the same time quite disappointed to see that my NBME's were not at the point where they are supposed to be. Got big hits below the belt in Biostats & Public health. Can anyone care enough to share how to tackle with it in step 2?

 

[canary90]

Hey there, congrats to all of you on such brilliant scores!

Got a question
Once you start hitting 240 on NBME, there remains only a handful of questions that you are getting wrong (less than 30). What can we possibly do to be able to get these remaining few questions correct in order to reach in 250's range? I feel these remaining questions are the rare concepts that are not frequently encountered in Uworld...
Any tips on this?

 

[col.hanslanda]

My Dear Fellow Gunners,
I'm on rotations so I've waited a few days since to post since I got my score. I was having an odd series of practice exams leading up to my test.

Plan: I started using firecracker in spring of first year. Had 25% marked by June 2015. 50% by September. 75% by January and 95% marked by dedicated. I was solid on micro before dedicated and mainly pounded in pharm and biochem with embryology. It paid off big time on my test. I was going to let embryo go, but i had close 12-15 embryo questions. Basically the first 4 blocks felt like the first half of first aid.. Pure memory.

Class rank= Top 25%
6 months before exam: Started Rx and finished in March to understand first aid (Rx in Tutor mode by block 83% correct)
3months to exam: started uworld and finished right before dedicated (77% correct 1st pass/timed/random)
Dedicated: bought Kaplan and finished about 1/2 of it (85% correct), I also started re-doing my wrongs/flagged on uworld, but it wasn't useful for me since I was just remembering answers right off the bat. I also worked on my weaknesses and read all of my notes in first aid. I made it through first aid 3 times during dedicated.
Daily schedule:
6:30 wake up/eat
8am: at desk working on firecracker 250 flashcards/day
10: Read first aid block
12: lunch
1230/1: Qbank of the day
7-8 : go home rest, eat, workout, and SLEEP (<--- most important part of studying)

Scores:
1/16- NBME 12 220
4/16- School administered CBSE 245
5/5 - NBME 15 237 ( got mad and took UWSA1 the next day)
5/6- UWSA1- 255 ( felt like that score represented how much I knew after 18 months of firecracker and 2 Qbanks)
5/30 NBME 16 - 237 (seriosly... wtf...)
I had 24 days between practice tests doing 12 hour days and got fewer wrong on this exam. I had read through first aid twice and did a couple thousand more practice questions
5/31 UWSA 2- 260 ( liked this more but not confident d/t my NBME's) At this point I had 10 study days left and decided to just pound on weaknesses, read First aid again, and do as many questions as possible. The tests were upsetting me too much for me to take one close to my exam day.

6/9 STEP 1: 245

Test experience: I honestly thought I did better than this. I think I may have had an easy form. The first 4 blocks I would know the answer without looking at the choices and it would be there. It was so easy i started re-reading questions to make sure I wasn't missing stuff and it was a trick question. Most of them weren't, but i did catch a handful. I flew through my first 4 blocks marking 2-4 each block and had like 8 minutes left. Took my lunch break for 30 minutes then block 5 (15min break), block 6, (15min), 7. Blocks 5 & 6 gave me timing issues. I had really tough conceptual and inversely worded biostats questions that set me back a few minutes. I was rushing to finish the last 10 questions on each of these blocks (5&6) in 10 minutes. This may be where my score took a hit. Regardless I still thought I did a great job not panicking, thinking, and finishing. I didn't have time to review, but i hardly ever (less than 1% of the time) change my first instinct.

When I got my score report most of the items had the asterisk and all of my topics were above borderline... not sure what happened.

Considering my baseline score, firecracker, 10000+ questions done, and 18 months of preparation I thought I had a 250. I'm okay with my 245 (like I have a choice lol) but not ecstatic. It was the same as my baseline CBSE before dedicated, which was disappointing. I'm aiming for neurosurgery and was hoping to be more competitive, but this score doesn't completely rule me out. I still don't know what happened with the UWSA's (very high) vs NBME's (very low). I missed fewer on the UWSA's and the scale seemed appropriate/comparable to the NBME's.

If I could go back in time I would tell myself to start Rx in the fall of MS2 to get oriented to first aid. Start Uworld in January and Kaplan in march so that I could fit in a full second pass of UWORLD, and finish Kaplan all the way. I didn't anticipate how much busy work our school would be making us do the spring before dedicated. We were in class almost 8-5 everyday doing some "required" event. We would lose clicker points that effect class rank if we didn't attend lecture. Otherwise I would have been in the library 24/7. I hope this helps somebody 🙂 and thank you to the collaborative teamwork exemplified on this thread. Keep working hard y'all.

That's a BINGO!
-Col. Hans Landa

 

[ahmadalsakkal1993]

Hi guys

i have 4 months to my step 1 exam , i am below average student , just passing like my GBA is 68% (IMG school)
i am aiming for 230+ , like i said my basics is not good and i only have 4 months , i did fa 3 times memorized good % of it like now i can do the hall book in 24 days or less
and i did uworld once but i struggled with it and did it without reading the whole explanation just reading the educational object ,

i did nbme and got 190 !! but i already know it will be bad because i forgot a lot of info from first aid and i have not yet mastered it

so bottom line , i'm a below average student aiming for 230+ , familiar with fa quite well ,

so according to your experiences ( the ones who did do the exam) , what should i do know ?

some people say read pathoma and uworld , some say do rx and uworld and more many questions , im really confused

 

[VT5592]

Hi guys

i have 4 months to my step 1 exam , i am below average student , just passing like my GBA is 68% (IMG school)
i am aiming for 230+ , like i said my basics is not good and i only have 4 months , i did fa 3 times memorized good % of it like now i can do the hall book in 24 days or less
and i did uworld once but i struggled with it and did it without reading the whole explanation just reading the educational object ,

i did nbme and got 190 !! but i already know it will be bad because i forgot a lot of info from first aid and i have not yet mastered it

so bottom line , i'm a below average student aiming for 230+ , familiar with fa quite well ,

so according to your experiences ( the ones who did do the exam) , what should i do know ?

some people say read pathoma and uworld , some say do rx and uworld and more many questions , im really confused

I would HIGHLY recommend watching and reading pathoma. pathoma is what got my score from low 200's up into the mid 220s. I would say Rx is pretty good to hammer in the small details of FA. But I would go back and do UW again and read the FULL explanation. I know it takes time but I learned so much from it. UW is the best learning tool for sure.

 

[ahmadalsakkal1993]

I would HIGHLY recommend watching and reading pathoma. pathoma is what got my score from low 200's up into the mid 220s. I would say Rx is pretty good to hammer in the small details of FA. But I would go back and do UW again and read the FULL explanation. I know it takes time but I learned so much from it. UW is the best learning tool for sure.

thanks but how should i do pathoma ? like i should read it all and then read FA or do subject by subject ? cardio patho pathoma then cardio patho FA ?

 

[Transposony]

Question for Recent test takers:
Have you encountered many questions on Patient safety on the test? Are they doable with info in FA?
Thanks