USMLE Official 2018 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Foot Fetish]

I've always wanted to start one of these...So here we go!

My stats:

M2
Test time: June 2018
Goal score: 270

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[Greyhame]

per block?

yup

 

[Foramenlacerum]

Hey all! I just got my score back this morning and wanted to post here, because I know how many questions and anxieties I had along the way.

tl;dr: After taking step, I went to visit my good friend who has CF. She is about to be added to the transplant list (i.e she is really sick). She has a 3 year old boy. She weighs maybe 80 pounds, has to walk around the house with oxygen constantly flowing and a little kid who constantly needs attention. I was putting away groceries and opened up her medication fridge/freezer instead: it was overwhelmingly full. There is a room with a world war 2 era oxygen tank, closets stacked with syringes and face masks, and hundreds of bottles of various medication. She was nauseous, weak, and sick. I played with her son while she slept. In this process, I lost touch with why we do this to ourselves. People like my friend need good doctors to take good care of them. They don't need doctors who got a 265 and made themselves miserable in the process. The powers that be (i.e. AAMC, NBME, and the various people who make massive profits off of our desire to be successful) try to convince you that this number you get at the end of 6/8/52 weeks defines you. It does not. And in the programs/places where it does: they've got the wrong idea. Work as hard as will make you happy, as hard as will make you a good physician. Emerge from this process more knowledgable than you entered, ready to take a little more responsibility for caring for people. I feel strongly that I will be as good of a doctor as my friend who makes a 230, and as my friend who makes a 255. And you will be too. There are real people at the end of this, guys, and they need caring, competent, and compassionate physicians. Try not to lose sight of that.
.

This is the most poignant and honest thing that has probably ever been written on SDN. I wish you would send this to the people at the AAMC/NBME because I think it speaks volumes. We literally allow 1 test to determine the path our lives can take. To think that someone who is not good at answering questions on a multiple choice standardized test may be kept from a specialty they are passionate about simply because of this stupid exam, is incredibly disheartening.

Congratulations on your amazing score. You are clearly going to be a FABULOUS doctor and I am glad to have future colleagues that write things like this to bring us all back to reality.

 

[Lannister]

Does anyone else have an issue with Kaplan where they'll be reading an answer explanation and all of a sudden it jumps to the top of the page and you have to scroll back down to see the explanation again? It's a minor problem but kind of irritating.

 

[MrTaco92]

Does anyone else have an issue with Kaplan where they'll be reading an answer explanation and all of a sudden it jumps to the top of the page and you have to scroll back down to see the explanation again? It's a minor problem but kind of irritating.

Yeah basically every time I move on to a new question to review and scroll down this happens to me. I'm used to it by now though

 

[Lannister]

Yeah basically every time I move on to a new question to review and scroll down this happens to me. I'm used to it by now though

Thanks, glad to know it's not just me!

 

[pbrocks15]

hey guys
getting ready to be humiliated by yal lol.
anyway can i get your opinions, i have several nbmes under my belt and im scheduled to take step 1 4/20 however i can move it to 4/25.

nbme 17( before dedicated)- 192
nbme 15( 1.5 weeks into)- 219
nbme 18(2.5 weeks into)- 203 ( reviewed and counted 15-20 questions i should have gotten right iwas just so anxious that day i was even skimming questions and not reading all options.
uwsa 1(3 weeks into)- 232

which exam should i take next only have 13,16, uwsa 2 left. should i change my exam date?
im aiming for 220-230 want to go into EM.

I'll let others comment on actual advice since that's not my forte yet, but I would like to say your improvement from the start of dedicated is impressive and you're doing great. I think you're well on your way to hitting your target but most likely you'll break your goals.

Goodluck!!!

 

[Foramenlacerum]

hey guys
getting ready to be humiliated by yal lol.
anyway can i get your opinions, i have several nbmes under my belt and im scheduled to take step 1 4/20 however i can move it to 4/25.

nbme 17( before dedicated)- 192
nbme 15( 1.5 weeks into)- 219
nbme 18(2.5 weeks into)- 203 ( reviewed and counted 15-20 questions i should have gotten right iwas just so anxious that day i was even skimming questions and not reading all options.
uwsa 1(3 weeks into)- 232

which exam should i take next only have 13,16, uwsa 2 left. should i change my exam date?
im aiming for 220-230 want to go into EM.

I would look at topics in the Qbanks you are missing a lot. Especially if you are doing Uworld. Because you can kill multiple birds with 1 stone. If you read about the answer and the incorrects you cover a ton of material. You’re at a point where’s only a few more corrects will jump your score up. So I would focus on filling those gaps not just taking practice exams hoping to get better. I didn’t find the NBMEs helpful really. I would spend this week really studying and then take an exam after this week and see if you have improved.

 

[sovereign0]

hey guys
getting ready to be humiliated by yal lol.
anyway can i get your opinions, i have several nbmes under my belt and im scheduled to take step 1 4/20 however i can move it to 4/25.

nbme 17( before dedicated)- 192
nbme 15( 1.5 weeks into)- 219
nbme 18(2.5 weeks into)- 203 ( reviewed and counted 15-20 questions i should have gotten right iwas just so anxious that day i was even skimming questions and not reading all options.
uwsa 1(3 weeks into)- 232

which exam should i take next only have 13,16, uwsa 2 left. should i change my exam date?
im aiming for 220-230 want to go into EM.

Be sure to take UWSA2. Not only is it the most predictive, it has explanations so you can see where you went wrong. I'd take it sooner rather than later so you can identify some weak spots to shore up and maximize the efficiency of the time you have left.

NBMEs are not really a good learning tool, but rather a way to test your progress and practice endurance for the real deal.

5 more days could be useful, but probably won't make or break your exam.

How is UWorld going? Have you finished your first pass?

 

[Cremaster reflex]

Looking for advice....test is in 6 days....originally wanted 260, then 255+, now I would be happy to break 250 lol

Scores have been:

Uworld 1st pass timed, random: 82%
NBME 18 baseline (7 weeks out) = 211
NBME 13 (5.5 weeks out) = 232
UWSA1 (~5 weeks out) = 260
NBME 15 (4 weeks out ) = 240
NBME 19 (3 weeks out) = 238
NBME 16 (2 weeks out) = 252
NBME 17 (1.5 weeks out) = 248
UWSA2 (1 week out) = 249

Given what I have seen in other people with a similar Uworld Qbank % I feel like my scores on these tests should be higher.

Not happy with how I did on UWSA2 at all, reviewed it and made a ton of really stupid, careless mistakes.

My weakness has always been Repro. I am doing sketchy path for it now and was going to redo all the Uworld repro questions, however I still seem to suck at the physiology of it even after doing B&B + Costanzo. Does anyone have any recommendations for this? I was considering going through Medbullets step 1 reproductive for this

Also any advice on what to do for the last few days leading up to exam? I was planning on cramming FA as hard as possible and hitting memorization heavy things like Nephritic/Nephrotic, Vasculitis, Lysosome, Glycogen storage diseases, CAH, equations etc. Thoughts?

Feeling discouraged.

 

[Rahas]

@sahell

I'm afraid I'm going to have to bug you about all confusions regarding offline NBMEs, since its you who put me on this damned path in the first place!

NBME 4 has this ethics question about a child with Fragile X Syndrome, with the fathers sister being pregnant. Since the disease is X linked, I concluded the pregnant woman couldn't be a carrier, and marked "Keep the diagnosis confidential". All online discussions agree with this, except one guy, who suggested "Recommend family counseling" since the mother must've been the carrier, and she had a sister (who might want to have children in the future). But then again, I'm not sure what could be done with this information, since its an untreatable condition, unless you decide not to have kids and adopt, or to abort all male fetuses?? (that sounds horribly unethical though)

What did you conclude?

 

[sahell]

@sahell

I'm afraid I'm going to have to bug you about all confusions regarding offline NBMEs, since its you who put me on this damned path in the first place!

NBME 4 has this ethics question about a child with Fragile X Syndrome, with the fathers sister being pregnant. Since the disease is X linked, I concluded the pregnant woman couldn't be a carrier, and marked "Keep the diagnosis confidential". All online discussions agree with this, except one guy, who suggested "Recommend family counseling" since the mother must've been the carrier, and she had a sister (who might want to have children in the future). But then again, I'm not sure what could be done with this information, since its an untreatable condition, unless you decide not to have kids and adopt, or to abort all male fetuses?? (that sounds horribly unethical though)

What did you conclude?

Don't blame me. I'm just offering advice to procrastinate my CK studying.

The reasoning behind family counselling is a stretch. If you read the question carefully, it only asks about the woman's sister in law. I agree with your conclusion. If you have to twist the scenario to fit an option, it's usually wrong. Try going for the simplest answer wherever possible.

If you have any more NBME questions mention the block and question number.

 

[831929]

Looking for advice....test is in 6 days....originally wanted 260, then 255+, now I would be happy to break 250 lol

Scores have been:

Uworld 1st pass timed, random: 82%
NBME 18 baseline (7 weeks out) = 211
NBME 13 (5.5 weeks out) = 232
UWSA1 (~5 weeks out) = 260
NBME 15 (4 weeks out ) = 240
NBME 19 (3 weeks out) = 238
NBME 16 (2 weeks out) = 252
NBME 17 (1.5 weeks out) = 248
UWSA2 (1 week out) = 249

Given what I have seen in other people with a similar Uworld Qbank % I feel like my scores on these tests should be higher.

Not happy with how I did on UWSA2 at all, reviewed it and made a ton of really stupid, careless mistakes.

My weakness has always been Repro. I am doing sketchy path for it now and was going to redo all the Uworld repro questions, however I still seem to suck at the physiology of it even after doing B&B + Costanzo. Does anyone have any recommendations for this? I was considering going through Medbullets step 1 reproductive for this

Also any advice on what to do for the last few days leading up to exam? I was planning on cramming FA as hard as possible and hitting memorization heavy things like Nephritic/Nephrotic, Vasculitis, Lysosome, Glycogen storage diseases, CAH, equations etc. Thoughts?

Feeling discouraged.

Not sure how much you could gain by looking at another resource since those are pretty comprehensive. To improve on repro, maybe invest into another qbanks just to practice repro and figure out why you are getting the questions wrong.

 

[UncleMinnie]

Actual Step score: >270
I did half of uworld in the semester leading up to my dedicated time, and I did it randomly.
Final uworld was 80%, then I did it all again in the 90’s
NBME 13 at beginning of study period: 250
UWSA1 4 weeks out, 272
UWSA2 3 weeks out: 262
NBME 15 few weeks out: 260
Final 2 weeks:
NBME 16: 262
NBME 19: 253
NBME17: 260
NBME 18: 268

Actual test didn’t feel too much harder than 19 and 18, but luckily treated be much better than 19



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[starlite911]

What resources are you using, and what have you used throughout medical school? Is there anything you would have done differently?

Pretty much using UFAP + Sketchy (micro & pharm). Went through Goljan & USMLERx during the school year, and I've referenced Goljan occasionally during dedicated.

Looking back, I wish I had spent a non-zero amount of time (so ~2 hours one day a week) on cummulative review throughout medical school. Be that flash cards, or questions, or whatever works for you, I think it would have helped to not have had some topics that I hadn't seriously seen for 1.5 years going into dedicated.

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

Actual Step score: >270
I did half of uworld in the semester leading up to my dedicated time, and I did it randomly.
Final uworld was 80%, then I did it all again in the 90’s
NBME 13 at beginning of study period: 250
UWSA1 4 weeks out, 272
UWSA2 3 weeks out: 262
NBME 15 few weeks out: 260
Final 2 weeks:
NBME 16: 262
NBME 19: 253
NBME17: 260
NBME 18: 268

Actual test didn’t feel too much harder than 19 and 18, but luckily treated be much better than 19



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Congrats! Any guess on how many questions you got wrong on the exam?

 

[DubbiDoctor]

Actual Step score: >270
I did half of uworld in the semester leading up to my dedicated time, and I did it randomly.
Final uworld was 80%, then I did it all again in the 90’s
NBME 13 at beginning of study period: 250
UWSA1 4 weeks out, 272
UWSA2 3 weeks out: 262
NBME 15 few weeks out: 260
Final 2 weeks:
NBME 16: 262
NBME 19: 253
NBME17: 260
NBME 18: 268

Actual test didn’t feel too much harder than 19 and 18, but luckily treated be much better than 19



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DAMN - awesome score! One of the few 270+ scores to post on SDN. Numerous questions: what resources did you use during dedicated and throughout medical school? What was your goal score? How did you do on the MCAT? Are you US MD - top 25? Did you take the exam before or after core rotations? Were you at the top of your class pre-clinicals? What specialty do you plan on pursuing? What percentage of questions do you think you got correct? How important was doing all six available NBMEs (seems like most do 2-4)? Was there anything you think you could have done differently to answer correctly the small number of questions you got wrong?

 

[UncleMinnie]

Congrats! Any guess on how many questions you got wrong on the exam?

I know of one question that I absolutely got wrong. There were plenty of what felt like 50/50 guesses (at least 3 per section). I’m assuming that I got lucky on most of them given my score.


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[UncleMinnie]

DAMN - awesome score! One of the few 270+ scores to post on SDN. Numerous questions: what resources did you use during dedicated and throughout medical school? What was your goal score? How did you do on the MCAT? Are you US MD - top 25? Did you take the exam before or after core rotations? Were you at the top of your class pre-clinicals? What specialty do you plan on pursuing? What percentage of questions do you think you got correct? How important was doing all six available NBMEs (seems like most do 2-4)? Was there anything you think you could have done differently to answer correctly the small number of questions you got wrong?

Same resources as everyone except that I used Boards and Beyond for all videos on material in First Aid not covered by Pathoma or sketchy Micro/Pharm.
Goal score was to break 260. Regardless of my goal, I just dedicated 12-14 hours a day to study for 6 weeks.
Top 25 medical school with a 40 mcat (did almost perfect in sciences and good enough in verbal).
Going into ENT
I did well in preclinical, but my school doesn’t report quartiles for me to know for sure.
I think doing all of the NBMEs is nice if you can afford it, because they inevitably have questions that will throw you off guard, and the more experience working through questions like that the better.
Nothing I would change to do better. Well, I had to submit a grant and an abstract in the middle and which I hadn’t done that. I could have used that time to do something good for the soul, like exercise or watch a movie once a week during the insanity.
I used cram fighter to keep me on track (uworld 2x, FAx3, Pathoma, sketchy micro and pharm, boards and beyond videos)
I anki’d any questions I got wrong or anything in FA that I saw a knew I wouldn’t remember without Anki.

I guess one piece of advice if you want a 280 or above is to memorize FA and then read things like the Wikipedia page on everything because they like to throw some random crap in the “difficult” questions that they know isn’t in FA.

I feel like they’re starting to do some biostats stuff that’s not in FA, but it was the type of stuff that you could logic your way through alright without prior knowledge.



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[Barry'sAneurysm]

I know of one question that I absolutely got wrong. There were plenty of what felt like 50/50 guesses (at least 3 per section). I’m assuming that I got lucky on most of them given my score.


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Damn! Only one?! When did you take your test?

 

[UncleMinnie]

Damn! Only one?! When did you take your test?

Mid February


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[UncleMinnie]

Damn! Only one?! When did you take your test?

After looking up one and seeing that it was wrong, I couldn’t stomach looking up any others. I’m a wuss with stuff like that.


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[DubbiDoctor]

Same resources as everyone except that I used Boards and Beyond for all videos on material in First Aid not covered by Pathoma or sketchy Micro/Pharm.
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Thanks for the thorough response. Did you use the rx or kaplan Qbanks at all? Did you use B/B, pathoma and sketchy throughout pre-clinicals? What about anki or firecracker?

 

[UncleMinnie]

Thanks for the thorough response. Did you use the rx or kaplan Qbanks at all? Did you use B/B, pathoma and sketchy throughout pre-clinicals? What about anki or firecracker?

The only other question I used were from a FA Q&A I found laying around my medical school.

I wish I had heard of B/B before Step study, I like that guys style a lot (he still geeks out on organic chemistry stuff, how great!). Yes, I don’t think any medical student does pre clinicals without Pathoma and those two sketchys. I tried sketchy path, but just didn’t like it.


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[Oh_Gee]

does USMLE test on drugs that haven't been on the US market for years? and what about drugs that the FDA have taken off recently?

and drugs Available via FDA investigational drug [IND] protocol only?

 

[idkididk]

NBME 13 - 232 (86.5%), 5 weeks out
NBME 15 - 232 (86%), 4 weeks out
NBME 19 - 232 (88%), 3.5 weeks out, today

Man this is frustrating. Looking over the questions I got wrong on 19 today, some of them are the really vague/obscure questions, others are topics that I haven't had a chance to review yet. Doing better with eliminating stupid mistakes by double checking every question.

I've been reviewing my weak points with B&B videos + Anki. On my 2nd pass of UWorld. Anyone else in/been in a similar situations? Any advice?

 

[Lannister]

I can finally contribute some actual data to this thread!
Step 1 date: 6/7/18 (8 weeks away)
Goal score: 230 would make me happy, would be thrilled with a 240
Kaplan: 81%, systems-based untimed, about 1/3 complete
Rx: 84%, random untimed with about 150 questions left to go
NBME 13: 234

I took NBME 13 this morning and was told to expect a sub-200 score so I'm pretty pleased with the 234, although I'm not entirely sure how to interpret this. How much do people usually improve from their first NBME? I have 3 more weeks of class during which I'll probably be doing about 8 hours of step studying a day, and then 4.5 weeks of dedicated.

Edit: Also...how tf do I stop thinking ciprofloxacin is a cephalosporin? I have gotten multiple questions wrong because of this and it's the most ridiculous thing ever. Like I just see the letter "c" and ignore the "floxacin" part.

 

[sharkbyte]

I can finally contribute some actual data to this thread!
Step 1 date: 6/7/18 (8 weeks away)
Goal score: 230 would make me happy, would be thrilled with a 240
Kaplan: 81%, systems-based untimed, about 1/3 complete
Rx: 84%, random untimed with about 150 questions left to go
NBME 13: 234

I took NBME 13 this morning and was told to expect a sub-200 score so I'm pretty pleased with the 234, although I'm not entirely sure how to interpret this. How much do people usually improve from their first NBME? I have 3 more weeks of class during which I'll probably be doing about 8 hours of step studying a day, and then 4.5 weeks of dedicated.

Edit: Also...how tf do I stop thinking ciprofloxacin is a cephalosporin? I have gotten multiple questions wrong because of this and it's the most ridiculous thing ever. Like I just see the letter "c" and ignore the "floxacin" part.

Great job! That's a really solid starting score on an NBME. Are the NBME's full length, like 7 sections of 40?

 

[Lannister]

Great job! That's a really solid starting score on an NBME. Are the NBME's full length, like 7 sections of 40?

Thanks! And they are not, 13 was 4 blocks of 50 questions for a total of 200 questions. I assume the others are the same!

 

[DubbiDoctor]

I can finally contribute some actual data to this thread!
Step 1 date: 6/7/18 (8 weeks away)
Goal score: 230 would make me happy, would be thrilled with a 240
Kaplan: 81%, systems-based untimed, about 1/3 complete
Rx: 84%, random untimed with about 150 questions left to go
NBME 13: 234

I took NBME 13 this morning and was told to expect a sub-200 score so I'm pretty pleased with the 234, although I'm not entirely sure how to interpret this. How much do people usually improve from their first NBME? I have 3 more weeks of class during which I'll probably be doing about 8 hours of step studying a day, and then 4.5 weeks of dedicated.

Edit: Also...how tf do I stop thinking ciprofloxacin is a cephalosporin? I have gotten multiple questions wrong because of this and it's the most ridiculous thing ever. Like I just see the letter "c" and ignore the "floxacin" part.

Sounds like you're off to a great start. How much time does your school give for dedicated?

 

[Lannister]

Sounds like you're off to a great start. How much time does your school give for dedicated?

We get just under 7 weeks, maximum. But I'm spending the last two weeks in Italy (no regrets, I am sure I will be very burnt out by my test date).

 

[lucky01]

I can give more info if anyone is interested but didn't wanna write a novel -- it's my first time back here in quite sometime.

Would love to hear more about the jump in points! What exactly did you do to increase your scores dramatically?

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

After looking up one and seeing that it was wrong, I couldn’t stomach looking up any others. I’m a wuss with stuff like that.


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That makes me feel better lol, I have been looking those ones up and have gotten like 15 wrong so far! :/

 

[Lannister]

I don't know how you guys study so much for step during classes. Kudos to you all. Maybe my school has more non-boards related **** than others? Idk but it's sucking the life out of me and I'm happy to get in 2 hours of boards stuff a day.

Yeah I've been doing about 3 hours a day and it's been a little rough. I've definitely been focusing more on step studying than useless lecture material. My grades have dropped a bit, luckily still above average but not as much as before.

 

[mistafab]

Took step 1 today. Felt pretty good.

I think it is probably a lot more fair than people think it is going to be. Lots and lots of “gimmies” where you either know the fact or you don’t. Overall, it just felt like a really long uworld sim 2.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

Took step 1 today. Felt pretty good.

I think it is probably a lot more fair than people think it is going to be. Lots and lots of “gimmies” where you either know the fact or you don’t. Overall, it just felt like a really long uworld sim 2.

What were your practice test scores?

 

[mistafab]

I had a post about this earlier but off the top of my head:

CBSE 230-232
Form 17 238
Form 15 232-235
Uworld sim 1 247
Uworld sim 2 254

What were your practice test scores?

 

[Foot Fetish]

I'm falling behind in my schedule due to research obligations...I've spent the last few days writing papers. Totally sucks, and I'm beginning to get anxious. I have nearly 4000 Anki cards that have backed up. It will take a few marathon sessions to kill them

 

[starlite911]

Would love to hear more about the jump in points! What exactly did you do to increase your scores dramatically?

Feeling like the high score might've been a fluke...
Took UWSA2 today = 22 wrong / 254 (curve was steeper than I expected, but oh well), immediately followed by the free 120 with an 88%
A little bummed since I've heard UW tends to overpredict, but hoping I can break 250 on the real deal a week from today

 

[SmallGirlBigDreams]

I'm falling behind in my schedule due to research obligations...I've spent the last few days writing papers. Totally sucks, and I'm beginning to get anxious. I have nearly 4000 Anki cards that have backed up. It will take a few marathon sessions to kill them

I've been following your posts for awhile -- you're so well prepared, don't worry about these few days. Your memory hasn't lost any of the minutiae you've gathered, and the discipline/routine you've had studying for this exam will carry through despite your change in schedule due to research. A few days is a few extra points in someone who is cramming/re-learning things for the first time, but you've been preparing for a YEAR, so the gains would be minimal at this point. Good luck man!

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Just an update - took NBME 15 today. 4 weeks since my last NBME, 3 more weeks of classes to go, then 5 weeks of dedicated.

NBME 13 (12 weeks out): 200
NBME 15 (8 weeks out): 217

Goal is to reach 240, but I'd still be happy with anything over 230.

Next step - watch all of sketchy micro in the next 3 weeks

 

[831929]

Just an update - took NBME 15 today. 4 weeks since my last NBME, 3 more weeks of classes to go, then 5 weeks of dedicated.

NBME 13 (12 weeks out): 200
NBME 15 (8 weeks out): 217

Goal is to reach 240, but I'd still be happy with anything over 230.

Next step - watch all of sketchy micro in the next 3 weeks

oh you got plenty of time! keep at it, you can definitely hit that 240!

 

[Lannister]

For UWorld, do you guys think it's absolutely imperative to do it random, timed, and in blocks of 40? I'm definitely planning on doing random and timed, but I'm a little hesitant on doing full blocks. My reasoning for that is that I've been doing a really good job at keeping up with reviewing my answers so far, like I have literally never gotten behind on reviewing explanations, and I think the reason for that is that I have been doing shorter blocks so I never had to sit there and read explanations for 2-3 hours straight. Would it be a terrible idea to do Uworld in sets of 20?

 

[starlite911]

For UWorld, do you guys think it's absolutely imperative to do it random, timed, and in blocks of 40? I'm definitely planning on doing random and timed, but I'm a little hesitant on doing full blocks. My reasoning for that is that I've been doing a really good job at keeping up with reviewing my answers so far, like I have literally never gotten behind on reviewing explanations, and I think the reason for that is that I have been doing shorter blocks so I never had to sit there and read explanations for 2-3 hours straight. Would it be a terrible idea to do Uworld in sets of 20?

I don't think you have to do it in a set of 40 EVERY time (although I did), but I'd make sure you're at least doing some of 40. For me, I know endurance is one of my weaknesses, so even though UWorld is designed as learning tool, I wanted to make the blocks simulate the real thing. Like the NBMEs only have 10 extra questions per section and that somehow manages to wipe me out. BUT if you don't have issues with this, I'd say to do it in whatever way makes it easiest for you to get through. n=1, of course.

 

[831929]

For UWorld, do you guys think it's absolutely imperative to do it random, timed, and in blocks of 40? I'm definitely planning on doing random and timed, but I'm a little hesitant on doing full blocks. My reasoning for that is that I've been doing a really good job at keeping up with reviewing my answers so far, like I have literally never gotten behind on reviewing explanations, and I think the reason for that is that I have been doing shorter blocks so I never had to sit there and read explanations for 2-3 hours straight. Would it be a terrible idea to do Uworld in sets of 20?

Don't see the point of doing random times uworld. Uworld is a learning tool, so it seems like tutor and organ system based is the way to do it. You'll take enough NBMEs to practice the test environment. I feel like I get through questions way faster on tutor mode since I don't need to think back to my thinking process. I'd just add on the systems though as you get through them into the question pool so you don't forget the old stuff. At least that's what makes sense to me.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

For UWorld, do you guys think it's absolutely imperative to do it random, timed, and in blocks of 40? I'm definitely planning on doing random and timed, but I'm a little hesitant on doing full blocks. My reasoning for that is that I've been doing a really good job at keeping up with reviewing my answers so far, like I have literally never gotten behind on reviewing explanations, and I think the reason for that is that I have been doing shorter blocks so I never had to sit there and read explanations for 2-3 hours straight. Would it be a terrible idea to do Uworld in sets of 20?

I think the general idea of doing timed blocks is so you can get a feel for the kind of mental drain it takes on you when you're just popping through questions for an hour at a time.

I think as long as you spend a bunch of time doing 40 question blocks at some point, like during dedicated, you'd be fine.

My unofficial theory of step (adapted from the MCAT) is that theres 3 dimensions to the test:
1) Content - do you know the concepts/details necessary?
2) Testing skills - have you seen enough questions to be comfortable with the format/thinking style?
3) Fatigue - does your brain run out of batteries after a couple hours?

If you're someone who fatigues easily (like me), then the timed 40 question blocks are a big deal. If thats not really an issue for you, then don't sweat it!

 

[UncleMinnie]

I'm falling behind in my schedule due to research obligations...I've spent the last few days writing papers. Totally sucks, and I'm beginning to get anxious. I have nearly 4000 Anki cards that have backed up. It will take a few marathon sessions to kill them

Put it in perspective, getting some papers will do a lot more for residency application than a couple points more on Step 1 by preparing intensely. I took 3-4 days off during dedicated to get some abstracts and a grant in, and after all was said and done I am very glad that I did that.


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[bananafish94]

I can finally contribute some actual data to this thread!
Step 1 date: 6/7/18 (8 weeks away)
Goal score: 230 would make me happy, would be thrilled with a 240
Kaplan: 81%, systems-based untimed, about 1/3 complete
Rx: 84%, random untimed with about 150 questions left to go
NBME 13: 234

I took NBME 13 this morning and was told to expect a sub-200 score so I'm pretty pleased with the 234, although I'm not entirely sure how to interpret this. How much do people usually improve from their first NBME? I have 3 more weeks of class during which I'll probably be doing about 8 hours of step studying a day, and then 4.5 weeks of dedicated.

Edit: Also...how tf do I stop thinking ciprofloxacin is a cephalosporin? I have gotten multiple questions wrong because of this and it's the most ridiculous thing ever. Like I just see the letter "c" and ignore the "floxacin" part.

If you're getting a 234 on your very first practice test, the world is your oyster. You'll almost certainly improve dramatically over the course of dedicated.

 

[Lannister]

I don't think you have to do it in a set of 40 EVERY time (although I did), but I'd make sure you're at least doing some of 40.

I think as long as you spend a bunch of time doing 40 question blocks at some point, like during dedicated, you'd be fine.

Thanks for the input guys, I think I will probably stick to shorter blocks for the next few weeks and then move on to sets of 40 later. Luckily I don't have much of an issue with stamina.

Don't see the point of doing random times uworld. Uworld is a learning tool, so it seems like tutor and organ system based is the way to do it.

I think I agree with you about doing it timed being slightly unnecessary, since like you said I'm using it as a learning tool. I also tend to be a fairly fast test taker. But I definitely prefer random over systems based! I get bored if I focus on one subject for too long.

 

[Lannister]

If you're getting a 234 on your very first practice test, the world is your oyster. You'll almost certainly improve dramatically over the course of dedicated.

I want to believe this is true! But I have this nagging doubt that I won't actually improve that much. Like I feel like I have already crammed so much information in my brain from Rx, how could there possibly be more to learn! Haha.

 

[bananafish94]

I want to believe this is true! But I have this nagging doubt that I won't actually improve that much. Like I feel like I have already crammed so much information in my brain from Rx, how could there possibly be more to learn! Haha.

It might be that you're on the more horizontal part of the curve than people who haven't really studied for Step at all, but there's still definitely room for improvement, especially in 8 weeks! And anyway I would commit atrocities to get a 230-240 on the real thing so I'd say you're good.