USMLE Official 2017 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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WeedForLunch

WeedForLunch

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I know this is quite early but most American Students have finished giving the test for this year.
I am an IMG and have been prepping for the steps since quite some time and have seen Phloston, Transposony's and others' threads for their respective years and how helpful they have been.

I intend on giving step in Jan.. let's share timetables, plans and other stuff on how everyone intends on taking on this beast.

P.S. : I think it is not that early.. the 2015/2016 threads were started in September/October.. but in true SDN gunner style..i wanna start it in August.. 🙂
 
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wdoc said:
Oh come on. Don't act like you wouldn't/don't want to get your scores back as soon as possible.
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Oh I had a bit of fit when I found out I wouldn't be getting me score today.
But that's cuz I excpexted the 3rd wednesday rule to apply, another week won't kill me, but its annoying af.
 
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Just to relay more clarification. When I spoke to the NBME rep today, they stated that July 4th week does not count toward the total week count for score release and therefore pushes back release dates that are influenced by it by 1 week. Same thing for Christmas week. Best to think of them as not even existent in the week/Wed counter for your score. This may already be known, but thought I would share.
 
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Spodermin said:
Oh I had a bit of fit when I found out I wouldn't be getting me score today.
But that's cuz I excpexted the 3rd wednesday rule to apply, another week won't kill me, but its annoying af.
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Ahh makes sense. Sorry man. Good luck next week!
 
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You guys freaking out about scores and not being competitive need to go look at the match info.

It's too early to freak out without having the necessary info.

Ex: I looked earlier and saw that ~90+% of folks with a 210ish match anesthesia. Might be old numbers. The old adage from med school apps come to mind. Apply broadly and widely. Not every program is MGH/BWH... There are tons of great places to train just like there are plenty of good places to be a med student.

Edit: if you're actually panicking, go talk to someone at your school that handles this stuff...a dean for instance.

Good luck to everyone. I'm going to stop following this thread to put this chapter behind me. See you all on the shelf threads and step 2 thread on the future. I'm proud to call you lot my future colleagues.
 
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To all of those people who are worried about their scores. You are all overestimating the importance of a high score on step 1. Yes, its very important if you want a high tier program, however remember avg's are just avgs. There are plenty of people above the avg as well as below. For example, GEN surg avg is 235 btw all applicants. IM is around the same. Anesthesia is even lower. With this information, remember that 50% of matriculants into these programs have scores below the avg. having a 220-230 is not going to kill you. As long as you apply broadly and do well in clinicals, you all will match. You just can't expect to match to high tier, but there are many lower and mid tier programs that take people with avg scores. Keep your heads up
 
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ADME1313 said:
@Newyawk I know you said you freaked out after your test and ended up doing really well. Was that more of a gut feeling, or could you remember specifically getting X number of questions wrong?
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The day after the exam and the week following i remembered like 15 Qs i got wrong. The problem wasnt the number i got wrong but the quality of the qs i got wrong. 5 of them felt like really stupid mistakes (keep in mind i wasnt aiming for a 230).
 
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Score is finally here!!

Resources used: Pathoma, Sketchy, UW (1x through), FA, wikipedia
CBSE, 3 months out: 198
NBME 15, 2 months out: 198
UWSA1, 1.5 months out: 215
NBME 18, 1 month out: 217
UWSA2, 3 weeks out: 228
NBME 16, 1.5 weeks out: 226
Free 120, 5 days out: 88%..?.. something like that

Real Deal: 241

Experience: Def succumbed to test anxiety-- it was a beast. I thought I could have used another week or two, I was really hitting my stride towards the end of dedicated. Many people before have said "you won't need any more days, you will feel burned out".. but, like all advice, realize that it may not apply to you. Left thinking I probably scored between a 220-235, though I know I gave it my all so I really did not feel too bad about it.

My goal was a 240 when I started M2 year, but based on these SDN scores perhaps I should have aimed a bit higher. Regardless, I feel blessed to be where I am today-- in medical school, living the dream!!!
 
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ridethecliche said:
You're like.... Simultaneously every nurse anesthetics and anesthesiologists nightmare.

Mad props.
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hahaha no! I'm honestly just your average joe. trying to make it out here with the rest of you big leaguers. I am putting EM, anesthesia and potentially surgery on the list. I'm not kidding, everyone needs to chill, half the battle is getting decent score on STEP 1. They also wanna see you do BETTER on STEP 2 (try not to get lower, i know ppl who have). and they wanna make sure you FIT IN with them (personality wise etc). I called one of my attending friends that i work with and they said "if you are liked and work hard during AIs we honestly don't even care what your score is". Ive seen it with my own two eyes while i worked. so everyone relax, if you got about 230+ you can make anything happen. Just don't be a tool/overconfident at sites and you'll be golden.
 
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I found a lot of comfort from reading these boards while waiting for my score so here is the basic run down from my experience:

CBSE (school administered 1 month out): ~245
NBME average: ~257
UWSA1: 273
UWSA2: 271
*took both UWSA back to back 2 days out from my exam to simulate

Actual score: 265-270

I used only SketchyMicro/Pharm + UFAP as resources with 4 weeks of dedicated study time. I did not use Goljan audio as many would suggest, though that may be helpful to some. I walked out of the exam with mixed feelings and over the next couple days I remembered 8+ questions that I missed due to stupid mistakes. I'm talking brain farts. So don't be too discouraged if you feel you've made dumb mistakes, you can still do well.

The main thing I would change would be to review my notecards from courses more as I found that a decent amount of bonus knowledge was drawing on things I learned in classes alone (vague and distant memories). Generally, I would recommend focusing on understanding over memorizing as I would agree with others that some questions are impossible to prepare for with brute memorization, and personally I felt that I over memorized a lot of topics for the exam expecting it to be more like the NBMEs. I don't know if anyone else can relate to this, but I feel like I wasted a lot of time memorizing First Aid.

However, save a set of notecards or notes with biochem and pure memorization for the last week and cram it in there in short term memory so as not to waste time rememorizing it over and over. By this I'm mostly referring to biochem, immunology, etc. Feel free to ask any questions, good luck to all!
 
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lifeisball said:
Score is finally here!!

Resources used: Pathoma, Sketchy, UW (1x through), FA, wikipedia
CBSE, 3 months out: 198
NBME 15, 2 months out: 198
UWSA1, 1.5 months out: 215
NBME 18, 1 month out: 217
UWSA2, 3 weeks out: 228
NBME 16, 1.5 weeks out: 226
Free 120, 5 days out: 88%..?.. something like that

Real Deal: 241

Experience: Def succumbed to test anxiety-- it was a beast. I thought I could have used another week or two, I was really hitting my stride towards the end of dedicated. Many people before have said "you won't need any more days, you will feel burned out".. but, like all advice, realize that it may not apply to you. Left thinking I probably scored between a 220-235, though I know I gave it my all so I really did not feel too bad about it.

My goal was a 240 when I started M2 year, but based on these SDN scores perhaps I should have aimed a bit higher. Regardless, I feel blessed to be where I am today-- in medical school, living the dream!!!
Click to expand...

Sick jump.
 
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I promised myself that regardless of the score, I would post here to help others as I had benefited a lot from this thread.

uwsa1: 245 (6 weeks out)
nbme 15: 236 (5 weeks out)
uwsa2: 246 (2 weeks out)
nbme 19: 234 (1 week out)
free 120: 88% (3 days out)
real deal: 237

Materials: UFAP + Sketchy is all you need. I would definitely recommend Goljan's audio files for when you're driving/exercising. The only thing I would do differently is add in DIT early on during M2.

Starting dedicated with a 236 on an NBME gave me faith that I could hit that elusive 250+ but I'm disappointed in myself and my performance. I walked out of the exam feeling genuinely terrible, the exam hit all my weak areas. I got home and started looking questions up and out of the 12 that I did look up, I guessed 10/12 right. I stopped looking up questions and thought that maybe, just maybe, for once in my damn life I had gotten lucky and things could turn out in my favor. Turns out I was wrong. I was never the brightest kid but I worked my ass off for this exam, studying 12-16 hours/day without any days off and I never felt burnt out. I was motivated. I guess it's time to find a different specialty.
 
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Brorthopedic said:
I promised myself that regardless of the score, I would post here to help others as I had benefited a lot from this thread.

uwsa1: 245 (6 weeks out)
nbme 15: 236 (5 weeks out)
uwsa2: 246 (2 weeks out)
nbme 19: 234 (1 week out)
free 120: 88% (3 days out)
real deal: 237

Materials: UFAP + Sketchy is all you need. I would definitely recommend Goljan's audio files for when you're driving/exercising. The only thing I would do differently is add in DIT early on during M2.

Starting dedicated with a 236 on an NBME gave me faith that I could hit that elusive 250+ but I'm disappointed in myself and my performance. I walked out of the exam feeling genuinely terrible, the exam hit all my weak areas. I got home and started looking questions up and out of the 12 that I did look up, I guessed 10/12 right. I stopped looking up questions and thought that maybe, just maybe, for once in my damn life I had gotten lucky and things could turn out in my favor. Turns out I was wrong. I was never the brightest kid but I worked my ass off for this exam, studying 12-16 hours/day without any days off and I never felt burnt out. I was motivated. I guess it's time to find a different specialty.
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No you don't. I know a quite a few people from my school who have ended up in ortho (I am making assumptions based on your username) with scores lower. You just have to grind it out and keep putting in the hard work. Congrats on your solid score
 
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Just gave the beast.... I dont know what to feel lol. Im numb to everything.... Thank you everyone for everything. Will post a writeup soon !
 
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Long time lurker and now I want to contribute to help those who were in the same boat as me.

nbme 18: 159 (administered by school 2 mo before dedicated period)
nbme 15: 180 (baseline)
nbme 17: 188 (7 weeks out)
UWSA1: 237 (6 weeks out, knew this was over predicted)
nbme 16: 200 (5 weeks out)
nbme 19: 198 (4 weeks out)
nbme 18: 200 (3 weeks out)
nbme 13: 217 (2 weeks out)
UWSA2: 230 (4 days out)

real deal: 234
my original goal before dedicated period was 240, but two weeks into dedicated, I was aiming for 230 as I saw a low score on nbme 17. Then after 8 weeks of studying and seeing no improvement in my nbme scores, I was convinced there's a chance I might not even hit 220. after the score came out yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised. I triple checked my score thinking I read it wrong. I'm so happy with this score. Although it's not a competitive score for the specialty I'm considering, it's still not a bad score. and I think if i do well on other aspects of the residency application, i still may have a chance for a good match.

A lot of people already posted their study strategies and I don't think it was that different from mine, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. however, if you guys got any questions for me, just ask.

p.s. screw the nbme stupid tests. it doesn't do me any goods other than destroying my confidence and stressing the hell out of me.
 
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In a predicament, thinking of taking nbme 13 or 19 tommorow but I looked at a block of nbme 13 about a couple months ago (stupid i know). Should I just do 13? Or stick with the harshness of 19? I feel that in both cases my score is not accurate? advice?
 
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Wanted to make a post to highlight some of the things I did that helped me the most, because I haven't seen others really posting about this strategy

US DO student
In the order of importance for me- UWorld, First Aid, Sketchy, Kaplan (school bought it for us, you don't need to buy both), pathoma
Stats (6.5-7 weeks dedicated)
First Pass (sections/tutor mode)- 74th percentile
COMSAE A- 571
UWorld Sim 1 - 256
NBME 15- 222
NBME 18- 226
NBME 19- 232
UWorld Sim 2- 262
Free 120- 88%


Real deal- 251
COMLEX- 651

I had only done ~200 UWorld questions when I started dedicated as I didn't buy UWorld until later. I decided to take down my first pass in sections w/ tutor mode. I felt that by doing it in sections (renal, cardio, respo, ect..) I got a good idea of what was high yield and what wasn't. I say that because things that were high yield, UWorld would make 5-8 question variations on the same topic, helping guide me on where to focus my studies. I usually started each section by rewatching all the sketchy micro/pharm/path and pathoma prior to doing that sections questions.

The thing I did that I haven't seen most people posting about is as I took down each section, I would make Quizlets of all the questions I got wrong/questions I guess correctly on/questions I knew I would need to continually review or I would forget. After each section I had ~40-50 notecards. I continued this for 3.5-4 weeks until I completed my first pass, all the while continually reviewing the notecard sets daily. I only took 3 days off of studying during my dedicated, and I felt I was able to not burn out because on the days I really didn't feel like studying, I would do a half day of note cards, or even a full day (had around 900 notecards at the end). (I also would make sets for all my Sims and NBME's).

Another added bonus is that I had a buddy who mirrored this exact plan with the same time-frame +/- a few days. This allowed us to do the notecards together as it fit perfectly in our schedules. Taking turns being the one reading it, and being the lazy one who just answers each question really helped to break the monotony of studying. Maybe even threw in some sketchy videos.

When I started my second pass (only got through 1/3 of the questions again) I started averaging around the 94th percentile and I really feel it's because the notecards kept me on top of everything.

So to sum up what I felt the major benefits of my plan were
-doing it in sections clearly pointed out the high yield material
-notecards kept me sharp on everything, even if I hadn't tested it in 3 weeks
-notecards was a way to passively study and make it feel almost like a day off
-having a buddy with a similar schedule to keep each other on track/bounce questions off of
 
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doc-Oc said:
In a predicament, thinking of taking nbme 13 or 19 tommorow but I looked at a block of nbme 13 about a couple months ago (stupid i know). Should I just do 13? Or stick with the harshness of 19? I feel that in both cases my score is not accurate? advice?
Click to expand...

Take NBME 19. It has more recent/updated questions. Just be mindful that the curve is harsh and don't be discouraged if your score is lower than other NBME's.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
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Brorthopedic said:
I promised myself that regardless of the score, I would post here to help others as I had benefited a lot from this thread.

uwsa1: 245 (6 weeks out)
nbme 15: 236 (5 weeks out)
uwsa2: 246 (2 weeks out)
nbme 19: 234 (1 week out)
free 120: 88% (3 days out)
real deal: 237

Materials: UFAP + Sketchy is all you need. I would definitely recommend Goljan's audio files for when you're driving/exercising. The only thing I would do differently is add in DIT early on during M2.

Starting dedicated with a 236 on an NBME gave me faith that I could hit that elusive 250+ but I'm disappointed in myself and my performance. I walked out of the exam feeling genuinely terrible, the exam hit all my weak areas. I got home and started looking questions up and out of the 12 that I did look up, I guessed 10/12 right. I stopped looking up questions and thought that maybe, just maybe, for once in my damn life I had gotten lucky and things could turn out in my favor. Turns out I was wrong. I was never the brightest kid but I worked my ass off for this exam, studying 12-16 hours/day without any days off and I never felt burnt out. I was motivated. I guess it's time to find a different specialty.
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Im sorry bro, I saw you posting a while back since me and you took the test around the same time and I was always rooting for you since you were like motivation for me! Don't worry tho, you still scored a decent amount above average, ortho may be more of a challenge now but it is certainly still possible. If its really your dream keep grinding bro, it can be done!
 
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Merely said:
Im sorry bro, I saw you posting a while back since me and you took the test around the same time and I was always rooting for you since you were like motivation for me! Don't worry tho, you still scored a decent amount above average, ortho may be more of a challenge now but it is certainly still possible. If its really your dream keep grinding bro, it can be done!
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What's gonna be the backup to ortho? Anesthesia ?
 
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AgentMay said:
Long time lurker and now I want to contribute to help those who were in the same boat as me.

nbme 18: 159 (administered by school 2 mo before dedicated period)
nbme 15: 180 (baseline)
nbme 17: 188 (7 weeks out)
UWSA1: 237 (6 weeks out, knew this was over predicted)
nbme 16: 200 (5 weeks out)
nbme 19: 198 (4 weeks out)
nbme 18: 200 (3 weeks out)
nbme 13: 217 (2 weeks out)
UWSA2: 230 (4 days out)

real deal: 234
my original goal before dedicated period was 240, but two weeks into dedicated, I was aiming for 230 as I saw a low score on nbme 17. Then after 8 weeks of studying and seeing no improvement in my nbme scores, I was convinced there's a chance I might not even hit 220. after the score came out yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised. I triple checked my score thinking I read it wrong. I'm so happy with this score. Although it's not a competitive score for the specialty I'm considering, it's still not a bad score. and I think if i do well on other aspects of the residency application, i still may have a chance for a good match.
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Congrats!

Rekt said:
The problem is a lot of us are DO students, so the stats don't really apply to us in the same manner.
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I'm MD so I never really looked into the stats, but how does it work for DOs applying?

Are there more primary care spots for you guys? Is it hard to match into competitive specialties?
 
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Rekt said:
The problem is a lot of us are DO students, so the stats don't really apply to us in the same manner.
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http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Charting-Outcomes-US-Osteopathic-2016.pdf

Edit: I know this document doesn't use USMLE scores, but it does a fair job at breaking down each specialty and various points of application interest. Sadly, until the full merger goes into place we DO students likely won't have a complete reference document for comparison like our MD colleagues.
 
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Along with hommie gilaze, I have a question too. I just sat for mine two days ago (I know it'll take awhile)... I am wondering when the score finally goes live, what will my ""https://apps.nbme.org/nlesweb/#/exams/examDetail"" look like??? So I get the email saying its up, then log in and BAMMMMMMM it's in my face? Cause I can't handle that man... I gotta get the shot glass ready and waiting. Or will it say something like "score report available" and then I gotta pray to the almighty and click and scroll like the NBMEs? Just trying to prepare mentally for what shows up on that screen when I log in (just in case I'm on rotations and have a few choice words for the USMLE gods).
 
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pmkyles said:
Along with hommie gilaze, I have a question too. I just sat for mine two days ago (I know it'll take awhile)... I am wondering when the score finally goes live, what will my ""https://apps.nbme.org/nlesweb/#/exams/examDetail"" look like??? So I get the email saying its up, then log in and BAMMMMMMM it's in my face? Cause I can't handle that man... I gotta get the shot glass ready and waiting. Or will it say something like "score report available" and then I gotta pray to the almighty and click and scroll like the NBMEs? Just trying to prepare mentally for what shows up on that screen when I log in (just in case I'm on rotations and have a few choice words for the USMLE gods).
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It'll say that your report is available but you have to download the PDF to see your score
 
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hawk211 said:
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Charting-Outcomes-US-Osteopathic-2016.pdf

Edit: I know this document doesn't use USMLE scores, but it does a fair job at breaking down each specialty and various points of application interest. Sadly, until the full merger goes into place we DO students likely won't have a complete reference document for comparison like our MD colleagues.
Click to expand...

How the hell does diagnostic radiology have a 90% match rate while general surgery hovers around 50%?

Self-selection can't be that intense, can it? Derm still has like a 70% match rate for allopathics...
 
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Osteoth said:
Sick jump.
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Thanks... I really think I hit my stride, and I wish I had time to maybe study a bit longer.. to those people who are still studying and feel like they still haven't hit the score accelerator yet, keep going... It sometime takes a while to adjust to the way questions are asked, or connecting the dots on certain clinical presentations/variations... eventually you should begin to wrap your mind around the big picture of the material, and it's often understanding the little details down the line that can really boost your score.
Good luck everyone!
 
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Like many who have posted in this thread, I am not an active poster on this site, but I have followed this particular thread (and years ago, the MCAT one - got a 36 for reference) in order to help see where I stand in my studying. For this reason, I feel obligated to contribute.

Here are my NBMEs and UWSAs:
UWSA 1: 251 (3 months out) - This test is very overpredictive
NBME 19: 246 (2 months out) - School administered. Still had 1 more block of 2nd year to complete, but I had studied a little ahead in First Aid anyways.
NBME 13: 242 (5 weeks out) - Beginning of dedicated (however I essentially took the first week and a half very lightly to ease into studying)
UWSA 2: 251 (4 weeks out)
NBME 15: 248 (3 weeks out)
NBME 16: 263 (2 weeks out) - At this point, everything felt like it was beginning to click and I had finally filled some serious holes in my knowledge.
NBME 17: 265 (1 weeks out)
NBME 18: 259 (4 days out)

Actual Step 1: 261 - My immediate reaction following the exam was similar to what most others that I've heard of tend to experience. I felt befuddled, like I made a lot of guesses, and woefully unsure of how I did and couldn't resist the urge to look up some questions after the exam. I quickly realized that I had made at least 3 incredibly silly mistakes (still have nightmares about them) and that I had guessed poorly (abandoned logic) on about 10-15 total and therefore had at least that many incorrect. I assumed there were quite a few more that I had gotten wrong.

I don't feel as though I had the best performance relative to where I was at, but I anticipated not having a perfect day as my goal was to be able to score high even on my worst day. Overall, I am very pleased with the score and as you can see it was within the range of my last 3 NBMEs.

QBanks: USMLERx, Kaplan, Uworld - All were finished at various times before dedicated and averages were about 79% first pass, UWorld 2nd Pass was about 94%, but I only did like 25% of the bank a second time. I started Rx in October, Kaplan in November, and UWorld in January.

How I studied:

Honestly, the single most valuable piece of advice I would give if you're aiming for a high score is, unless you want to have a miserable time studying ridiculously hard during dedicated, you need to put in step 1 specific work during the MS2 year and do well in your MS1 and MS2 classes. Dedicated should be about filling gaps, refining your test taking ability, consolidating what you know, and maybe learning a few more obscure facts for good measure.

Something that also tremendously benefited me was that I found a group of students to compete with. We challenged each other at everything... block exams, qbank questions, practice tests, you name it. Hell a few of us even lifted while discussing medicine at the gym together (who doesn't want to talk about Gilbert's syndrome at the gym) and turned doing qbank questions into a drinking game on Saturday night (get one wrong and you win a shot of vodka!). Some of you may look at this and think that it is overly competitive or toxic, but the reality of it is that we all wanted to see each other achieve and became great friends while pushing each other. Getting ready for step 1 is just as much training and drilling as it is studying and learning.

I would say that the backbone of my studying was doing questions. In total I easily did 10,000+ questions. Convince yourself that doing questions is fun. The day of my test I was pumped because I would have 280 NEW questions to do! The earlier you can transition from doing block specific questions to random questions, the better. I was able to make that transition by the time I started UWorld in late January. This same logic applies to your use of First Aid. I started out doing the sections of First Aid that were concurrent to the blocks in my MS2 program. As time went on, I would do extra blocks of First Aid and get ahead of my MS2 program as well as review the basic science sections in FA.

I used some sketchy during my micro block, but did not really use it much beyond this. I did about 70% of the brosencephalon anki deck and 30% of flash facts. I covered all of Pathoma at some point during the year and hit a few sections the week of step just to strengthen some weaker spots.

Last few tips: You have 7 days to work with in a week. Use them all. This doesn't mean you have to go 100% every day. Make sure you change up your study methods (anki vs qbanks vs FA vs pathoma) to keep yourself interested and on your toes. An interested mind is an active mind that is engaged and not day dreaming. Don't get too comfortable, as healthy doses of discomfort stimulate growth. Finally, don't take yourself or Step 1 too seriously, it helps you stay relaxed and efficient with your energy (this probably seems comical given how long winded this post is).

I apologize for the length, but I hope something in this wall of text helps someone. Feel free to message me or ask in this thread if you have any questions. Good luck!

P.S. - A nemesis will most certainly know who wrote this.
 
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Has anyone's permit disappeared for the week of the 19th or can anyone hazard a guess as to when this disappearing business usually occurs?
Specifically the 22nd? Thanks in advance
 
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Never ever have I posted on SDN. I am sharing my STEP I experience because other's on SDN helped guide my studying:

NBME CBSE: 210 (10 weeks prior)
NBME 13: 211 (5 weeks prior, start of dedicated study time, not sure why I didn't improve so I kind of freaked out)
UWSA1: 249 (3 weeks prior)
NBME 15: 244 (2 weeks prior)
UWSA2: 241 (1 week prior)
Free 120: 84% (1 week prior)
UW First Pass (timed, random): 68%

Actual Score: 242 (happy)

Study schedule: I started studying about 12 weeks prior with Sketchy & DIT. 5 weeks of dedicated study time.

1. DIT: 1.5 speed, coupled with FA.
2. FA: Completed 1 thorough pass. 2nd pass focused only on material I didn't really understand or needed to improve on.
3. Sketchy Micro (only micro)! SO GOOD. Watched 2 videos a day, starting 3 months prior to exam.
4. Pathoma: Watched during my 2nd year classes, and browsed during dedicated study time. First 2-3 chapters are absolute gold (I wish I reviewed these a couple of days before the test).

I took a ton of study breaks, and exercised as much as I could. My goal was too stay as chill as possible throughout dedicated study time and especially the test itself.
 
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CallExner said:
what are you talking about, check out the NRMP website, there are plenty anesthesiology things he can do. Its half of who you know. I got 221 too actually and I'm still probably gonna go for anesthesia. Im a nurse now and I can tell you I've seen ppl with a 210 get interviews.
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Exactly! I have known people who didn't pass step 1 on their first try get into their top programs (mind you, this may not be the top program in the country but for her it was her top choice). Step scores are important but not the only important factor.
 
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Phe0chroma said:
Hi everyone - never posted but like everyone else, this thread kept me from jumping ship during the score waiting period so I thought I would contribute... and I would love feedback.

I'm a DO student and got a 25/27 on my MCAT. Took all the NBMES and avg a 238, free 120 87%, 249 on UWSA1 and UWSA2. Step 1 score: 238

I'm a little upset given that my last NBMEs were in the high 240s but I also was really anxious during test day and talked myself out of the right answers for at least 10 questions. My overall goal is peds heme/onc and I'm a little worried as a DO student with this score. I know it's about the full package though so I'm gonna try to honor for as many shelfs as possible and kill step 2.

Any advice anyone has on how this might affect my path or the best resources to begin mapping out rotations would be great. Thank you guys in advance and for all your posts!!
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You're gonna be fine look back a page or so and you'll see your exact question was already asked about peds heme onc.
 
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Looks like last week people's permit disappeared around this time, any changes for anyone?
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how difficult were the biostats questions on your step 1?? Im asking because some of the Uworld biostats questions def cannot be completed in 90 seconds (IMO)...and im starting to feel like im spending too many days in a row on biostat concepts if all the test will ask is for PPV or ARR or something of that nature.

(sorry if this has been previously asked)
 
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jenb5000 said:
how difficult were the biostats questions on your step 1?? Im asking because some of the Uworld biostats questions def cannot be completed in 90 seconds (IMO)...and im starting to feel like im spending too many days in a row on biostat concepts if all the test will ask is for PPV or ARR or something of that nature.

(sorry if this has been previously asked)
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On my step 1, which I took in May, I did not have a single bio-stats calculation. It was all interpreting data or identifying what kind of study was use. kind of suck since the first 8-10 minutes of my tutorial review, i spent writing all the equations I remembered the week before 🙁.
 
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Ok might as well share my experience, and pay it forward. Hope this helps

Anyways I'm going to be honest with you all and tell you I only used 4 resources for everything. First aid 2017, Uworld (all of it, all questions & UWSA's and I literally went over every question, whether I got it right or wrong), Pathoma, and medbullets.com whenever I wanted to quiz myself on stuff I felt I was forgetting/not strong enough in.

First Aid on its own I felt was mostly sufficient for anatomy, there are some uworld questions that go into anatomy stuff not covered in FA which is good as well. Now First aid is pretty good for physiology in terms of letting you know what you needed to know, but understanding that stuff requires you to crack open either your old notes or look online for some videos of people who explain the concepts really well. I would say similar things about path, but pathoma is gold for pathology (mostly studied pathoma for pathology and I felt it was more than what was needed to be honest). The important caveat for FA is that is great for giving you an idea of what you need to know as well as give you a superficial understanding of most topics, but you need to make sure that you actually understand the overall concepts as well. So if you see in FA some of the volume pressure curves, it will show you what happens to the curves when a variable like preload or afterload changes, you need to be sure you know how the curves reflect that change, but also what scenarios that could actually represent.

I am not going to share a schedule, because I didn't really have one. Specifically, I decided to just study things I hadn't gone over yet and actually felt like reading about. I simply broke down the time I had for step studying and saw how many pages of text I wanted to get through and simply did "x" number of pages of whatever topic in whatever book/qbank to ensure completion before the test.

As for NBME scores:
3 months out, school CBSE (no studying at this point): 200
1.5 months out, nbme 16: 224
1 month out, nbme 17: 232
3 weeks out, UWSA1: 249
2 weeks out, nbme 18: 238
1 week out, UWSA2: 245
Actual Score: 240

Hope this helps.
 
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Purely speculation, obviously, but how many wrong questions on a 280 q exam do you think you could miss and still eke out a 240? It's interesting seeing people from these past months state they knew they missed 10-20 and still do well...
 
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