Hey All! Long time reader, first time poster. I took step a couple days ago (2/26) and after reading through about 9000 posts on SDN over the last day and a half I thought I’d add my own in case it’s useful to anyone later.
Background:
8 weeks of dedicated, really busted my ass the last 4weeks of it. I’ll share how I studied after I get my score (or now if anyone is interested) but i guess the relevant stuff for now is the practice tests..
•NBME 18 (4wks out) - 225 (had about 15% of UWorld done)
•NBME 17 (3wks out)- 232
•NBME 13 (2wks out)- 225 (had a mini panic attack at this point, but I think it had a lot to do with only getting like 4hrs of sleep a night for about 2wks prior)
•NBME 15 (week before)- 259 (on the night I finished UWorld)
•UWSA1 (2 days before)- 266
•UWorld% (first pass, timed)- 73%
Current/post test feelings:
Feels bad man. Lol. That test is nuts, it felt like basically the most confusing block of UWorld. To be fair, I’m a horrible judge of difficulty on tests. I’m almost always down to the wire on time with practice questions and honestly those two assessments above where I did pretty well I thought I got about 50% correct lol. But all that being said, I feel like I’m in the low 220s. I made some REALLY stupid mistakes (not that I haven’t on everything always lol) and just felt like I completely dropped the ball on this thing. It’s just so hard to gauge this exam though that if I got a 210 or a 260 (yea right lol) I wouldn’t be shocked.
Right now my only real solace is that it seems like everyone walks out thinking they failed, but I feel like I’m gonna be the first guy to drop 50 points from his last two assessments .
Anyway, sorry for the long post! I’m happy to answer any other questions about the test (within reason) or any thing else if it helps anyone! Otherwise I’ll update you all with my score next month- assuming I haven’t broken down, faked my own death, and fled to Mexico by then. Lol.
Real deal:
251
Not a score to write home about by SDN standards but considering that I felt like I tanked this one, and knowing that this keeps all my doors pretty wide open... I couldn’t be happier!!!
I posted all my practice tests and general post-test thoughts in the post I quoted above, and a few after that I talked about the resources I used if anyone is interested so I won’t reiterate unless anyone is curious. Basically I just wanted to make a post with all the info I kept trying to find on people to satisfy my neuroticism before the test so I apologize if this is a little random.
•so first of all, I worked my ass off studying. A lot of people talk about how studying for step isn’t that bad or they did a clean 40hr weeks and got a 260-whatever, and that’s awesome for them, but I want to reassure anyone who’s questioning themselves that I don’t consider myself any type of freak genius and I think a 250+ is something you can get with a lot of hard work. I put in 16hr days 7 days a week my last 5wks but I don’t regret a second of it now.
•CBSE:
I got a 195 or something a couple weeks before dedicated and read about a thousand old posts saying that it’s rare to improve more than 30pts from there. BS. The CBSE means nothing imo unless you’ve already done tons of dedicated studying (and I mean tons.. I was about 2/3 through Rx).
•NBMEs:
Don’t psych yourself out too much reading other people’s scores online. It never occurred to me until recently that when you see somebody posting that they got a 250 6 weeks out that they MIGHT have already done UWorld before that point. Maybe not, but i don’t think you can start putting a lot of weight in these until you’ve actually gotten through a good amount of your study plan.
•Resources:
Everyone says this but I’ll reiterate- less is more. I didn’t use a lot of what people claim are essentials but I knew the high yield stuff really well I think. I had never heard of Zanki until a couple weeks ago, watched one SketchyPharm video, and only did about 1/3 of sketchy micro (do kinda wish I’d found time for it).
I’m not knocking any of these resources, but what I never kept in mind is that you do need to know as much as you can, BUT there’s only 280 questions. I felt great on the micro and I think everyone I had was one I know from dedicated.
•how you feel post step:
Well, I felt like crap, and was pretty sure I bombed. I know everyone says everyone feels that way but here’s the thing- I think I actually DID choke a bit. Looking at my breakdown it looked a lot like the NBMEs I totally choked on. The key is though I worked really hard and prepared well enough that, while I think I had high 250s and MAYBE a 260 in me, I choked a bit and still pulled off a score that I don’t think is going to hinder me in any way. My point is, if you know your test anxiety is a deal, just prepare hard enough to be able to afford a drop. You got this.
That’s all I’ve got for now.. may add to this for the benefit of future generations later. Thanks for letting me ramble SDN! Hope it helps somebody someday!
. Took some days off randomly though. During dedicated: got through FA ~2 times, UW x1, Pathoma almost x1, Sketchy ~2 times or more (videos x1, pictures x1+). SketchyMicro was definitely crucial for me. Didn't use SketchyPharm or Path. During preclinical I didn't use FA, probably got through >50% of Pathoma, and used Sketchy very sporadically for bacteria.
