IMG here. Just took Step 1 yesterday after a whole year preparing. Aiming for a 240+. Was going to post this last night but if something's true is that you NEED to drink afterwards.
I'll start by saying that the exam itself is NOT that much of a beast. 7 blocks, 280 questions total, maybe only 5-10 in which I had absolutely no idea. Not saying I nailed it, because it is an extremely well made exam in which memorizing or kinda knowing things is not enough. I would say med school knowledge is key. I found myself remembering my teacher's lectures since first year more often than FA or UW content during the exam but of course this was only my experience. I still think anyone who really gives all his effort in studying can nail the exam. Questions were perfectly balanced, didn't feel like there were more biochem, more biostat, more physio or more anything than any other subject. One of my best advice: Try to follow the patterns in NBME's, free 150's and whatever else exams you take before. If you do 3 or 4 exams and they ask you similar things in all of them...MASTER those concepts. I don't mean just keep them or remember them but really master them because they WILL ask you that and they will probably ask you more than just one question about it and there's a reason for that...epidemiology of diseases in the US. Just keep that in mind.
FA is your bible. It really is. I never read Goljan or Pathoma and I was kinda worried in the end because of what everyone said but I really didn't miss them in the exam.
UW and NBME's are not an option...they are a MUST. The more you do, the more you will face your own truth about how you're doing. Level of difficulty of the real thing is pretty accurate for both. I would even say that there were more UW questions that I had no clue about than questions in the real thing but I guess that really varies. NBME on the other hand...that's as easy as it gets so it applies bothways...you find NBME's easy? You will find some questions in the exam really easy. You find them hard? Keep studying till they're easier.
This is my first post here so I really don't know how this works but if you do, you can contact me and I'll answer any further questions.
My stats
-UWSA 1 (3.5 months ago): 239
-UWSA 2 (3 months ago): 242
-NBME 17 online (2 months ago): 240
-NBME 13 offline (1.5 months ago): around 250
-NBME 15 offline (1 month ago): around 240
-NBMe 18 online (5 days ago): 240
Now the eternal 3 weeks of waiting...