USMLE Official 2017 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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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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SynapticDoctah said:
Starting UWorld Tuesday and taking exam July 5th. Just finished up Boards and Beyond. I wanna run through either Boards and Beyond or DIT during dedicated. Any suggestions to which I should do?


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I'm kinda doing something similar right now. I think DIT videos are generally a bit shorter so that could be good to save time but you can always go back to BNB if needed!
 
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Waterlover said:
I am still working though them but I think it is helpful for repetition and to see it presented differently.



Yes, except for the newly added chapter and behavioral.
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My plan is to run through B&B during my 2 week dedicated once more... I'll let you know how it goes. Exam is the end of May
 
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chromuffin said:
My plan is to run through B&B during my 2 week dedicated once more... I'll let you know how it goes. Exam is the end of May
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Good luck to you! My test is a few weeks after yours in that case! I'm hoping to just do a lot of questions and read through first aid and pathoma, will probably watch videos for stuff I'm confused in!
 
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I had a lot of reservations about buying DIT but ended up going for it (the calendar and everything). I really tried to like it....but honestly I wish I could go back and not bother with it. Kaplan carried me through the first two years of med school and the NBMEs. It was really good for preclinicals but I get that it might be a little out of date. There's another company that someone mentioned was really good but I can't remember the name....

First aid and pathoma are also must haves...and the practice NBMEs, uworld etc...

**Edit: As for DIT, it left a lot of important information out and the quirky stuff really didnt sit well with me for most of the time. I didnt find the program effective...if you have it at your disposal anyway, maybe well in advance before you do your real studying is the best way to use it. The other ppl in my class that bought it also seemed to feel the same way so it wasn't just me...
 
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Waterlover said:
Wait quick question! Out of curiosity, what's your gameplan to finish it in 2 weeks haha?!
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It's probably a bit much but I will be coming off of my finals where I will have completed pathoma and all of pharm. so my plan is to watch everything at 1x speed except path and pharm related subjects where I will probably watch at 1.6x speed to stay fresh. B&B is about 90 hours. Dividing that by 14 days gives me less than 7 hours to cover a day. By studying pathoma and pharm already, it shouldn't be too hard. So it's more or less like studying it all in probably 3.5 weeks
 
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Thank you All for sharing your exam experience. ...hope there'll be some manipulation on the curve and you'll have a nice score despite the level of difficulty. ..For sure, they've changed the exam pull, all previously experimented items are gonna be dumped up on us.Atleast they ain't gonna change the passing score, Plus Programme Directors will also know the mutating nature of the exam. They've posted on the content outline part that Broadly based learning that establishes a strong understanding of concepts and principles in the basic science is the best preparation for the exam.but...It's a race against time.personally,I'll still stick to UWFAP approach and may be I'll watch animations or something else for the emerging weird stuff. ..Let the almighty God give us the strength.
 
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oshaman4053 said:
Thank you All for sharing your exam experience. ...hope there'll be some manipulation on the curve and you'll have a nice score despite the level of difficulty. ..For sure, they've changed the exam pull, all previously experimented items are gonna be dumped up on us.Atleast they ain't gonna change the passing score, Plus Programme Directors will also know the mutating nature of the exam. They've posted on the content outline part that Broadly based learning that establishes a strong understanding of concepts and principles in the basic science is the best preparation for the exam.but...It's a race against time.personally,I'll still stick to UWFAP approach and may be I'll watch animations or something else for the emerging weird stuff. ..Let the almighty God give us the strength.
Click to expand...

Amen! Brother!


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attar1990 said:
Hi guys! For those of you who have taken Step and also did NBME 19... How predictive was it?
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Most of the test takers reported actual test results somewhat higher than the results of NBME 19. I will be able to share my experience on this Wednesday. Hope NBME 19 willk be underpredictive for me too.
 
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Did the free 120, got an 86%... any ideas of if I should be freaking out for Friday or if this is solid for a 240+? I saw the correlation table in the step 1 subreddit but everyone who got my score got around 250, which is skewed since people both above and below 86% got a wide range
 
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.hematoma. said:
Did the free 120, got an 86%... any ideas of if I should be freaking out for Friday or if this is solid for a 240+? I saw the correlation table in the step 1 subreddit but everyone who got my score got around 250, which is skewed since people both above and below 86% got a wide range
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i saw that chart and idk how i feel about it, As everyone has been saying recently, the curves have changed so in good faith i want to tell you yes but i dont think anyone can really answer that till after the new scores come out after the change.

EDIT : how have your nbmes been or uwsa? ive heard their recent change in the curve has been accurate to peeps score
 
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Dr.Jekyll75 said:
i saw that chart and idk how i feel about it, As everyone has been saying recently, the curves have changed so in good faith i want to tell you yes but i dont think anyone can really answer that till after the new scores come out after the change.

EDIT : how have your nbmes been or uwsa? ive heard their recent change in the curve has been accurate to peeps score
Click to expand...

Took NBME 18 over the weekend, got a 242. NBME 17 weekend before 252. NBME 15/16 236, NBME 13 230. UWSA 1 at start of dedicated 245 and UWSA 2 second week of dedicated 239. Thanks for the feedback!
 
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.hematoma. said:
Took NBME 18 over the weekend, got a 242. NBME 17 weekend before 252. NBME 15/16 236, NBME 13 230. UWSA 1 at start of dedicated 245 and UWSA 2 second week of dedicated 239. Thanks for the feedback!
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i think youll be fine, i took nbme 13 first week as a base line and got a 215 , took uwsa1 last night got a 234 so im hoping i can catch up to you're level ! when do you take it ?
 
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Hey everyone-
I am a longtime follower, but have never actually made a post. Hoping my experience might help someone else who may be having a similar experience to me. I will admit I did not study at all for this exam during MS1 or MS2 years (like an idiot), so if you are still in your first 2 years start studying NOW - trust me it will save you a ton of stress and sleepless nights in the future. I somehow convinced myself that being at a really good medical school and being an A- student would get me the foundation I needed, and I could not have been more wrong or unprepared when I entered my intensive study period. I worked my butt off for 10 weeks studying for this exam and delayed twice because I just kept psyching myself out reading threads about people who were scoring 50+ points higher than I was on practice exams. I am not at all faulting those students (CONGRATS to anyone who can do that well on Step 1 - you are a rockstar) - BUT for the people who are scoring below the belt, I wanted to share my scores and experience now that I can officially say it is over! Step 1 is a beast that you unfortunately just have to tackle head on.

I used FA, pathoma, sketchy, and Uworld - my first pass through Uworld I had an average in the low 40's. My diagnostic which I took 12 weeks before the exam I scored in the 150s (safe to say I officially had a heart attack when I saw the score). I literally closed myself off from the world and even will admit I lost myself in studying for this exam. Starting scores like that will really make you question whether or not you actually are capable of ever becoming a doctor. I am not trying to sound ominous - I am just trying to be honest and share how I felt so that anyone who is having a similar experience can know they are not alone. Everyone struggles while trying to study for this exam and somehow we all get through it. Don't get so down on yourself that you start to question whether or not you are smart enough to get past it.

NBME12 - 148
NBME18 - 173
NBME16 - 182
NBME15 - 205
NBME17 - 194 (approached the point of mental breakdown when my score dropped)
NBME19 - 184 (stress/anxiety showing)
NBME18 - 200
Real deal - 216

If you don't feel confident going into the exam it WILL affect your score. I did way better than I ever could have hoped for and was ready to throw in the towel at one point during studying when I felt like passing was impossible. Just take studying one day at a time and trust that you know more than you think you do. I know 216 isn't a stellar score, but with the amount of stress I went through and where I started at, I am ECSTATIC with a 216.

Major point of my long post is to trust yourself. Take advice of other students who have gone through it, but don't get lost in comparing yourself. Set a realistic goal and just accept that you will have to work harder than you ever have before. But you will get through it, and you will make it past the hardest milestone of medical school 🙂
Good luck!!!
 
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:)c.md said:
Hey everyone-
I am a longtime follower, but have never actually made a post. Hoping my experience might help someone else who may be having a similar experience to me. I will admit I did not study at all for this exam during MS1 or MS2 years (like an idiot), so if you are still in your first 2 years start studying NOW - trust me it will save you a ton of stress and sleepless nights in the future. I somehow convinced myself that being at a really good medical school and being an A- student would get me the foundation I needed, and I could not have been more wrong or unprepared when I entered my intensive study period. I worked my butt off for 10 weeks studying for this exam and delayed twice because I just kept psyching myself out reading threads about people who were scoring 50+ points higher than I was on practice exams. I am not at all faulting those students (CONGRATS to anyone who can do that well on Step 1 - you are a rockstar) - BUT for the people who are scoring below the belt, I wanted to share my scores and experience now that I can officially say it is over! Step 1 is a beast that you unfortunately just have to tackle head on.

I used FA, pathoma, sketchy, and Uworld - my first pass through Uworld I had an average in the low 40's. My diagnostic which I took 12 weeks before the exam I scored in the 150s (safe to say I officially had a heart attack when I saw the score). I literally closed myself off from the world and even will admit I lost myself in studying for this exam. Starting scores like that will really make you question whether or not you actually are capable of ever becoming a doctor. I am not trying to sound ominous - I am just trying to be honest and share how I felt so that anyone who is having a similar experience can know they are not alone. Everyone struggles while trying to study for this exam and somehow we all get through it. Don't get so down on yourself that you start to question whether or not you are smart enough to get past it.

NBME12 - 148
NBME18 - 173
NBME16 - 182
NBME15 - 205
NBME17 - 194 (approached the point of mental breakdown when my score dropped)
NBME19 - 184 (stress/anxiety showing)
NBME18 - 200
Real deal - 216

If you don't feel confident going into the exam it WILL affect your score. I did way better than I ever could have hoped for and was ready to throw in the towel at one point during studying when I felt like passing was impossible. Just take studying one day at a time and trust that you know more than you think you do. I know 216 isn't a stellar score, but with the amount of stress I went through and where I started at, I am ECSTATIC with a 216.

Major point of my long post is to trust yourself. Take advice of other students who have gone through it, but don't get lost in comparing yourself. Set a realistic goal and just accept that you will have to work harder than you ever have before. But you will get through it, and you will make it past the hardest milestone of medical school 🙂
Good luck!!!
Click to expand...
thanks for sharing fam, im glad you exceeded your score on the nbmes !
 
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Dr.Jekyll75 said:
1 week, i take all my nbmes on sundays. This time i took it at 630 am instead of 530 lol next time im gonna try to shoot for 730 or 8 am. Hopefully they gym wont close early this weekend !
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Have you fully covered everything? Just trying to see what I should expect after covering neuro, biochem, Micro, repro and having studied MSK and derm since my last exam. I'm at a 207 so I'm hoping covering all those subjects will put me at a 240. I'd like to hope each subject will give me a 10 point boost haha
 
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Hey everyone! Took NBME 18 today and made some decent progress from my baseline 3 weeks ago! But man did 18 seem like a much more convoluted exam. Though a majority of the individual sections either increased or stayed the same in terms of performance for me, which is nice.
NBME 17 (baseline): 210
NBME 18: 225

I was wondering if I could get some advice on people who have experience with SketchyMicro/Pharm.

Over the last 3 weeks since my baseline, I have been going through more of UFAP (went through FA and pathoma once) and supplementing with SketchyMicro/Pharm because I really like the resource. However, I feel like it may not be helping me that much. My pharm/micro sections between my NBMEs did not really change. I feel that I may be spreading it out too much. I am watching corresponding pharm lectures as I go through FA sections and then micro randomly here and there. I feel like doing Uworld (and seeing micro/pharm pop up) as well as reading the Pharm/Micro FA sections a couple of times may be a much better use of my time and would take A TON less time than doing 2-3 hours of Sketchy a day. Again, I just feel that I am spending too much time on it and the tiny details are not sticking. The biggest thing I don't like about Sketchy is the lack of pictures (ex: ova and parasite/blood smears) and I end up googling pictures, but I don't get that memory hook advantage of seeing it described in a resource.

My Uworld Micro/Pharm %correct is ~64% while my overall %correct is ~67% with a steep upward trend recently (started at 50% with ~75% for last 7-8 blocks) so I so I am a bit conflicted. The voice in the back of my head is saying that more Uworld and FA would be better, but I am hesitant to switch up a resource I have been using for a while just because I am going through my weekly study-plan crisis (hopefully you all can relate!). I've got 7 full weeks until my exam. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
 
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Joanna1987 said:
If you want to... Just keep in mind that time REALLY FLIES. I'd check my phone, drank some water and bam! 12 mins passed.
Click to expand...

That's insane I did not know that was allowed! But that's also true about the time thing 🙁


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:)c.md said:
Hey everyone-
I am a longtime follower, but have never actually made a post. Hoping my experience might help someone else who may be having a similar experience to me. I will admit I did not study at all for this exam during MS1 or MS2 years (like an idiot), so if you are still in your first 2 years start studying NOW - trust me it will save you a ton of stress and sleepless nights in the future. I somehow convinced myself that being at a really good medical school and being an A- student would get me the foundation I needed, and I could not have been more wrong or unprepared when I entered my intensive study period. I worked my butt off for 10 weeks studying for this exam and delayed twice because I just kept psyching myself out reading threads about people who were scoring 50+ points higher than I was on practice exams. I am not at all faulting those students (CONGRATS to anyone who can do that well on Step 1 - you are a rockstar) - BUT for the people who are scoring below the belt, I wanted to share my scores and experience now that I can officially say it is over! Step 1 is a beast that you unfortunately just have to tackle head on.

I used FA, pathoma, sketchy, and Uworld - my first pass through Uworld I had an average in the low 40's. My diagnostic which I took 12 weeks before the exam I scored in the 150s (safe to say I officially had a heart attack when I saw the score). I literally closed myself off from the world and even will admit I lost myself in studying for this exam. Starting scores like that will really make you question whether or not you actually are capable of ever becoming a doctor. I am not trying to sound ominous - I am just trying to be honest and share how I felt so that anyone who is having a similar experience can know they are not alone. Everyone struggles while trying to study for this exam and somehow we all get through it. Don't get so down on yourself that you start to question whether or not you are smart enough to get past it.

NBME12 - 148
NBME18 - 173
NBME16 - 182
NBME15 - 205
NBME17 - 194 (approached the point of mental breakdown when my score dropped)
NBME19 - 184 (stress/anxiety showing)
NBME18 - 200
Real deal - 216

If you don't feel confident going into the exam it WILL affect your score. I did way better than I ever could have hoped for and was ready to throw in the towel at one point during studying when I felt like passing was impossible. Just take studying one day at a time and trust that you know more than you think you do. I know 216 isn't a stellar score, but with the amount of stress I went through and where I started at, I am ECSTATIC with a 216.

Major point of my long post is to trust yourself. Take advice of other students who have gone through it, but don't get lost in comparing yourself. Set a realistic goal and just accept that you will have to work harder than you ever have before. But you will get through it, and you will make it past the hardest milestone of medical school 🙂
Good luck!!!
Click to expand...

Thank you for your experience and congratulations! Do you have any more advice on particular study habits and how to stay calm during the test etc? Thanks.
 
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chromuffin said:
Have you fully covered everything? Just trying to see what I should expect after covering neuro, biochem, Micro, repro and having studied MSK and derm since my last exam. I'm at a 207 so I'm hoping covering all those subjects will put me at a 240. I'd like to hope each subject will give me a 10 point boost haha
Click to expand...
ive read first aid one if that helps, and im going back through now to work on my weaker subjects. Plus im throwing in bro deck for active recall. My biggest issue is my short term memory. I easily forget stuff. So ill do 1-2 sections a day, the next day new section, but during the later half of the day or while on breaks i go through the bro deck. Most of my issues or in path. Physeo has helped me alot in in physiology so i dont review it as much
 
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Dr.Jekyll75 said:
ive read first aid one if that helps, and im going back through now to work on my weaker subjects. Plus im throwing in bro deck for active recall. My biggest issue is my short term memory. I easily forget stuff. So ill do 1-2 sections a day, the next day new section, but during the later half of the day or while on breaks i go through the bro deck. Most of my issues or in path. Physeo has helped me alot in in physiology so i dont review it as much
Click to expand...
Sounds like a plan I wish I had time for. Pharm is my biggest issue. Hoping reviewing for my pharm final and watching some sketchypharm will boost my score
 
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Just took it

Will share score when it comes out. I didn't have a survey at the end. I just had a screen saying I was done but that doesn't guarantee I finished all sections (I answered every question, so I guess that's just a standardized message). Goal score is 250. I can live with anything 230+.

Practice Scores
U World Average 71% timed random while I was doing organ systems. One week after finishing organ systems, I did last 16 blocks and averaged 75%.

(All taken before studying)
CBSA 190
NBME 13 180
UWSA 180

(2 weeks into hardcore studying)
UWSA 236

(Taken while going through organ systems)
NBME 15 236
NBME 16 232
NBME 17 222
NBME 18 236

(After reviewing all organ systems)
NBME 19 244
Free 117 85%

What I did
Study time: 10 weeks about 8-10 hours a day (took some time out of school's normal curriculum to begin early and lowered my grades a bit for the last module)
U World 1.5X (I did my incorrects and marks after my first run through on tutor mood)
First Aid 2X
Pathoma 2X
Goljan 1X
DIT (About 70% and coupled it with first aid, since I lack the discipline to sit there and read)
Kaplan 70% completion (mostly done through med school)
USMLE RX 70% completion (along with First Aid and DIT to hammer first aid)

Test Experience
Some blocks were easy and felt like NBME 18 and 19. Some blocks were about the difficulty level of U World. It felt like recall questions with weird organisms or drugs as the correct answer were all purposely designed so that someone who knew all the high yield information could effectively eliminate all of the other choices. The most difficult questions had to do with pathogenesis. It was a lot of "can you figure out the most reasonable explanation/mechanism for this common medical phenomena." The physiology was easier than both Kaplan and U World. The pathophysiology was on the same level. I'm generally a good standardized test taker and fast reader, so, when practicing, timing was never an issue. On the actual exam, the easy blocks took me about 40-50 minutes and left me a good amount of time for double checking. However, I needed almost all the time just to get through the tougher blocks. The people at my test center were super slow at signing people in after breaks. I lost a bit of time on my last block. I still managed to finished, but it wasn't a good feeling to see those red digits wind down as I frantically clicked the bubble for my last answer.

I definitely made some really dumb mistakes here and there, especially in the later blocks. Test fatigue is very real. I practiced taking 8 blocks a day on more than a few occasions. However, the pressure and multistep questions on the real deal really do wear you down. By the last three blocks, I started to be less thorough with my reading of questions. But I'm not really going to beat myself up over this because I think test fatigue affects almost everyone and almost everyone makes a few dumb errors they wouldn't normally make due to it.

How I would study differently?
Specifically for STEP 1, I wouldn't study differently at all. I can distinctly remember questions on my exam that I only knew because of a combination of one or two of the resources listed above.

How I would study differently in med school to be in a better position at the beginning of my dedicated study period?
READ more. The exam tests if you know the mechanisms behind disease. All of the rote facts can be readily memorized in a few weeks. It's hard to gain a good background in pathology in that time period. Reading Robbins during your actual coursework is golden. If you had lecture based exams that asked nit picky details off of slides like at my school, time spent reading might take away a bit from grades on exams. However, I think sacrificing your grades a bit to read the right resources more is worth it for two reasons: #1 you gain a broader background and framework to actually understand medicine as a system rather than an assortment of disjointed facts #2 It helps a lot come boards study time, when you start with a strong base of understanding the "why" and the "how" rather than just the "what" of processes.
 
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