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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[Foramenlacerum]

I appreciate that. I guess thats my biggest fear. Doing super solid on all these NBME's and UWorld, feeling confident, and then getting blind sided and possibly screwed hard by getting tested on infrequent concepts that aren't in my wheel house, but someone else's.

Tell me about it. Pretty much sums up my experience. According to my NBMEs I should have been able to expect at least a 240. My goal was a 250. If I get a 240 I will cry tears of joy. Very solid reality check

 

[Krabbeman]

I love you all

 

[libertyyne]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think this wild journey is just about coming to an end for me. In less than 48 hours, I will be done with Step 1. Tonight I will review some high-yield points that I tend to forget, and tomorrow will be mostly relaxation and mental preparation before the big day.

Clearly, I'm not going to be the guy to go in there and get a 250 or 260. I've never been that guy, and that's never been the goal. But I do think I've done everything in my power. I have reviewed thousands upon thousands of Anki cards every single day since September. I've done over 7000 practice questions since January. I pushed my dedicated all the way to the very end and gave up a pre-M3 vacation to squeeze out as much time as possible. I've done this while concurrently working on school material and research and maintaining my own life. I don't philosophically agree with the idea of a single test determining what career you're allowed to go into, but I have poured my entire soul into this and I truly don't have any regrets in terms of preparation. If this doesn't go as planned, it will not be because I didn't work hard enough.

Godspeed, everyone. It's been a pleasure to go from stressing out with a lot of you about getting accepted to medical school to stressing out about Step 1, and I look forward to stressing out about our specialty choices and match lists together in the near future.

What were your NBME's like banana? and Good Luck! I am sure you are going to kill it.

 

[bananafish94]

What were your NBME's like banana? and Good Luck! I am sure you are going to kill it.

Baseline 217 at the beginning of dedicated creeping up to high 220s/low 230s by the end (although one of those is supposed to be the most brutal curve). UWSAs much better with a 240 on the first and 245 on the second, which is supposed to be the best predictor. I'm hoping the truth is somewhere in the middle. I'd be over the moon with a 230 or above. I don't want to do plastic surgery or anything like that so I just don't want to lock myself out of the mid-tier competition specialties.

 

[pbrocks15]

Anyone else have a large discrepancy between their uworld and Kaplan %? From what I've gathered most people seem to have a comparable avg but I'm low 70s in Kaplan yet high 50s in uworld. Something about uworld confuses the hell out of me at times, and they seem to make logical leaps sometimes as well.. Idk, anyone else have a similar experience and thus insight into how they raised their uworld %?

To maybe add to your confusion, my Kaplan percentage is lower than my UWorld Lol

 

[Lannister]

. I wish mine were flipped lol. And my uworld % is going down: wtf

Dude same. I started out really strong with UWorld and all of a sudden for my last couple sets I've had no idea what is going on, they keep asking about stuff I've never even heard of before. It's so demoralizing to be getting worse.

 

[brittsbb]

IMG
Year 2 out of medical school
Time of prep: 3 1/2 months
Resources: First aid, world, Kaplan

NBME:
16 263
17 255
19 259
18 259

Uworld self assessments 1 and 2: 260s .. cannot remember actual score

REAL DEAL: 256

 

[takeurmeds02]

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I think this wild journey is just about coming to an end for me. In less than 48 hours, I will be done with Step 1. Tonight I will review some high-yield points that I tend to forget, and tomorrow will be mostly relaxation and mental preparation before the big day.

Clearly, I'm not going to be the guy to go in there and get a 250 or 260. I've never been that guy, and that's never been the goal. But I do think I've done everything in my power. I have reviewed thousands upon thousands of Anki cards every single day since September. I've done over 7000 practice questions since January. I pushed my dedicated all the way to the very end and gave up a pre-M3 vacation to squeeze out as much time as possible. I've done this while concurrently working on school material and research and maintaining my own life. I don't philosophically agree with the idea of a single test determining what career you're allowed to go into, but I have poured my entire soul into this and I truly don't have any regrets in terms of preparation. If this doesn't go as planned, it will not be because I didn't work hard enough.

Godspeed, everyone. It's been a pleasure to go from stressing out with a lot of you about getting accepted to medical school to stressing out about Step 1, and I look forward to stressing out about our specialty choices and match lists together in the near future.

Same day; it feels surreal. I'm trying not to freak out lol. I echo your sentiments - I'm not gunning for anything super competitive, I just want options. Ah well, what's done is done. Good Luck to you!

 

[coldcase331]

Dude same. I started out really strong with UWorld and all of a sudden for my last couple sets I've had no idea what is going on, they keep asking about stuff I've never even heard of before. It's so demoralizing to be getting worse.

Same thing's been happening to me too, but I realized it was because I threw biochem/psych/neuro into the mix, which I haven't really seen in a year. Just means we know now what we have to learn.

 

[bananafish94]

Same day; it feels surreal. I'm trying not to freak out lol. I echo your sentiments - I'm not gunning for anything super competitive, I just want options. Ah well, what's done is done. Good Luck to you!

Yeah, it's always sort of been this abstract thing and now I have to actually sit in front of a computer and answer heinous questions for 8 hours and it's very real. I'll be rooting for you on exam day!

 

[Lannister]

Same thing's been happening to me too, but I realized it was because I threw biochem/psych/neuro into the mix, which I haven't really seen in a year. Just means we know now what we have to learn.

Very true, every time I get a question wrong I just try to think of it as an opportunity to learn something new and to ensure that I get that question right on the real thing.

The worst part is that my best sections throughout the schoolyear are my worst on uworld (micro/ pharm). It's like they watched sketchy micro and are purposely asking stuff not in there .

Isn't that so weird?? I loved Cardio and did really well, and that's hands down my worst subject. Whereas I despised renal and had no idea what was going on that whole block, and it's now one of my strongest subjects. As for sketchy micro, that's interesting to know. I haven't watched much of that, but I'm planning on going through it once during dedicated.

 

[STEPinthenameoflove2018]

IMG
Year 2 out of medical school
Time of prep: 3 1/2 months
Resources: First aid, world, Kaplan

NBME:
16 263
17 255
19 259
18 259

Uworld self assessments 1 and 2: 260s .. cannot remember actual score

REAL DEAL: 256

Congrats you’re a beast!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[ohnotornadooo]

IMG
Year 2 out of medical school
Time of prep: 3 1/2 months
Resources: First aid, world, Kaplan

NBME:
16 263
17 255
19 259
18 259

Uworld self assessments 1 and 2: 260s .. cannot remember actual score

REAL DEAL: 256

great score! Any idea how many questions you might have gotten wrong, or how many you marked per block?

 

[toros102]

Today is the big day! At least, I think it is. If I took the test April 5th, I should be getting the score today, right?

 

[EGW2018]

Today is the big day! At least, I think it is. If I took the test April 5th, I should be getting the score today, right?

yes

 

[Foramenlacerum]

Today is the big day! At least, I think it is. If I took the test April 5th, I should be getting the score today, right?

I just got the email saying they are available, but I’m too chicken to open it, so I’m going to wait until I am somewhere that I can have the breakdown that I deserve. Good luck everyone. I have such a soft spot for all of you taking this exam and getting scores. I’ve never had abnormally high anxiety but this is brutal. Whatever happens, it will all be okay.

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

265, will post write-up later!

 

[Foramenlacerum]

265, will post write-up later!

Amazing. Congratulations!!

 

[ohnotornadooo]

265, will post write-up later!

Congratulations!! From how you described your test, I think had a similar exam experience so this gives me so much hope!

 

[DoctorG2020]

Would anyone recommend another Qbank during a 6 week dedicated period in addition to Uworld? I've never touched Kaplan or Rx, and I'm scheduled to complete a first pass of UWorld ~1.5 weeks before dedicated which I had been doing by organ system alongside my courses. Should I just stick to doing UWorld or should I supplement with Rx/Kaplan (spending less time reviewing these thoroughly to save time)?

 

[Foramenlacerum]

250!!!!!
I know it’s not super impressive by SDN, but this is the best day of my life and I couldn’t be happier. I had a dream that I got a 209 this morning and freaked so I am so stoked I could scream. And I did! I will provide details later. Message me if you need someone to talk to.

 

[afib123]

250!!!!!
I know it’s not super impressive by SDN, but this is the best day of my life and I couldn’t be happier. I had a dream that I got a 209 this morning and freaked so I am so stoked I could scream. And I did! I will provide details later. Message me if you need someone to talk to.

congrats, you thought you failed but got a 250. guess thats how the curve works

 

[AggieDoc45]

Hey y'all, been following this thread throughout dedicated and I can finally join in! Took Step yesterday, and found it to be MUCH more difficult than I had imagined. To me it seemed like doing 7 straight Uworld blocks, and looked very little like the NBMEs. Actually managed to do pretty well on most of the questions I looked up, but there were at least 10-15 that I had NO idea what the answer was or what the vignette was even hinting at so I can't really look those up. The wait for the score is going to be terrible, post test feeling was that I probably missed between 25-40 depending on how some of the weird questions turn out. Goal was 250+, but not sure that is going to happen. Best of luck to everyone still studying!

Practice Exams (in order):
School CBSE 1: 200 (pre studying)
School CBSE 2: 250 (8 weeks in)
UWSA 1: 266 (10 weeks)
NBME 19: 240 (12 weeks)
NBME 17: 250 (13 weeks)
UWSA 2: 262 (14 weeks-two weeks before the exam)
NBME 18: 248 (Did this back to back w/ UWSA2)
NBME 13: 250 (Did 13-16 the week before my exam)
NBME 15: 250
NBME 16: 261

Ended up with a 258 on the real thing! Very happy, I thought for sure I wouldn't break 250 walking out. Best of luck to everyone taking their test soon!

 

[Krabbeman]

bout to finish my last block of uworld sa 1. feeling pretty terrible. send help

 

[ERDOC555]

250!!!!!
I know it’s not super impressive by SDN, but this is the best day of my life and I couldn’t be happier. I had a dream that I got a 209 this morning and freaked so I am so stoked I could scream. And I did! I will provide details later. Message me if you need someone to talk to.

Congratulations! I'm so happy it worked out for you!

If you're willing I'd love to see your score progression on NBMEs over time as well as any Q-Bank averages.

 

[Foramenlacerum]

Will write a reply tonight. working in lab all day so I will be swamped but will definitely write up a response tonight

 

[Krabbeman]

9 days till exam time boys and gals.

progress update.

2 weeks into dedicated (5 weeks out): Rx=83%, Kaplan=84%, NBME 13=232

Over the next 3.5 weeks I did UWorld (84% 1st pass) and redid my wrongs, and went over NBME 13

Today, little over a week out, 279 on UWorld SA1 (LMAO I heard it overpredicts, but this is ridiculous)

taking UWorld SA2 tomorrow.

@Foramenlacerum awesome job dude. 250 is my goal. Can I shoot you a PM?

 

[Nephronlearner]

9 days till exam time boys and gals.

progress update.

2 weeks into dedicated (5 weeks out): Rx=83%, Kaplan=84%, NBME 13=232

Over the next 3.5 weeks I did UWorld (84% 1st pass) and redid my wrongs, and went over NBME 13

Today, little over a week out, 279 on UWorld SA1 (LMAO I heard it overpredicts, but this is ridiculous)

taking UWorld SA2 tomorrow.

@Foramenlacerum awesome job dude. 250 is my goal. Can I shoot you a PM?

84% on 1st pass is ridiculous! While 279 may be unrealistic, you would surely get an extremely high score even if you took it tomorrow. It would be shocking if you got <250 (for reference, at the time when my NBMEs reached 250 most of my UW blocks were ~75-80%). 84% overall... wow, that's superhuman!

 

[Krabbeman]

84% on 1st pass is ridiculous! While 279 may be unrealistic, you would surely get an extremely high score even if you took it tomorrow. It would be shocking if you got <250 (for reference, at the time when my NBMEs reached 250 most of my UW blocks were ~75-80%). 84% overall... wow, that's superhuman!

Really? I appreciate your kind words.

That 232 ruined my confidence, which is why I didn't take another practice exam for 3 weeks after it lol.

My last 5 blocks averaged 85.5% in uworld and my first 5 averaged 77.8% so I guess maybe I did improve a lot just by doing UWorld across those 3 weeks. By about 3 questions per block

I plan on taking UWorld SA2 tomorrow, and then the rest of the 5 nbmes and the free 120, I have left, just taking one in the morning, and then reviewing it at night until my exam. Its perfect because I have 9 days until my exam, and 7 exams left (if you count free nbme as an exam) so it gives me a day of rest before the exam, and a day of catch up.

Have you taken the exam yet, is this a decent plan? or would it serve me better to do uworld a second time.

 

[Nephronlearner]

Really? I appreciate your kind words.

That 232 ruined my confidence, which is why I didn't take another practice exam for 3 weeks after it lol.

My last 5 blocks averaged 85.5% in uworld and my first 5 averaged 77.8% so I guess maybe I did improve a lot just by doing UWorld across those 3 weeks. By about 3 questions per block

I plan on taking UWorld SA2 tomorrow, and then the rest of the 5 nbmes and the free 120, I have left, just taking one in the morning, and then reviewing it at night until my exam. Its perfect because I have 9 days until my exam, and 7 exams left (if you count free nbme as an exam) so it gives me a day of rest before the exam, and a day of catch up.

Have you taken the exam yet, is this a decent plan? or would it serve me better to do uworld a second time.

Frankly, I think you are more than ready to take the test now. Those scores are ridiculous and NBME 13 is not very representative of the actual exam. I think UWSAs, NBME 18 and NBME 19 resemble the test the most. NBME 19 has a very rough curve. UWSA 1 might be a bit too gentle. That being said... you got 279, lol. While it may not be the most accurate one out there, I doubt it overpredicts by 30.
I took the test last week. I finished UW with 73%; towards the end most of my blocks were in the 80s.
I thought UW was by far the best resource for exam prep and someone doing as well as you in UW wouldn't have much trouble doing extremely well on the test I got. In fact, I am aware of multiple questions that I got wrong that I should never have missed as they are UW material.
To sum up, I am 99.9% sure you are ready to take the test any day regardless of NBME 13.

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

STEP 1: 265

My advice is probably going to be different than a lot of other advice out there. Also, it will probably not be very useful for someone with a rigid dedicated period, but rather for someone who wants/has been studying a bit for STEP during M1/M2.


A bit about me- It feels good to do well on this test especially after having had to apply to medical school multiple times. However, I did well on the MCAT (think 38-40ish), so I think I’m naturally a good test taker, but there are certainly people who score higher than I do, obviously. My philosophy is to spread the work out over as large of a period of time as possible when it comes to STEP 1. My advice might be useful to you or it might not. As always, take internet advice with a grain of salt.


DO AS MANY Q-BANKS AS POSSIBLE!! It is all about how many questions and unique ‘patient presentations you see.’ After a while, you get a feel for how these patients present and what the question writers are getting at. As they say 85% of diagnoses can be made from the H and P alone, ie. know what the vignettes are getting at! DO IT ON TUTOR MODE SO YOU GET INSTANT FEEDBACK!!! Ideally, start a q-bank (Kaplan or Rx) during M1 and work through sets on tutor mode. I did random,and would end up getting a sh*tload wrong, but I was getting a feel for how the patients present. At this point, I would just see what the correct answer was, and move on, because reading the whole explanation wouldn’t be of benefit because I had no framework for a lot of subjects at that time, but I could remember what a certain disease presentation looked like. **With U-World, during dedicated, obviously spend as much time as you see fit combing through the explanations (for me, some questions I would read all explanations, others I would just read the educational objective- to each his own).



I think I did over 15,000 questions between U-World, USMLERx, PastTest USMLE, BoardVitals, USMLEasy, Amboss, etc etc over M1 and M2, and didn’t have to spend too much time with it because I would just answer the questions and move on, not combing through them (except for some of UW). To give you an idea of the pace I like, there is no reason doing 100 questions should take you more than two hours, in terms of reading the vignette and answering, and seeing what the correct answer was.


Anki- Anki is your friend. I liked the Pepper Pharm deck a lot. I did some of Zanki, but I felt like the questions weren’t super well written and there was lots of redundancy.


Dedicated- 8-10 hours a day ,7 days a week.

Work out every day (either just a run, or lift)

Wake up 10 am (LOL, I know)

Gym + get ready for day until noon.


12-4 read a chapter in FA (could get through most chapters in 1 day)

5-9 do Zanki for said chapter, try to get through as many cards as I could (in 4 hours I could hit about 1500-2000 reviews).

9-11pm do 1-2 UW sets, (remember that I sort of fly through these and only stop to read ones that I am totally not familiar with the answer)

11-12 midnight- do Lange pharm flashcards (awesome resource!!!) or pepper pharm deck.



Pre-Dedicated NBME- 260 (this caused me to shorten my dedicated from 6 to 4 weeks)****

First NBME (16) about 4 weeks out (240, oh **** I thought, but I had been dealing with a breakup and was sort of distracted. Got a lot of encouragement from friends, was able to focus pretty well afterwards).

Second NBME (17) about 2 weeks out (248, not where I wanted to be given my pre-dedicated performance)

NBME (18) two days out 263- big sigh of relief, started thinking 16 and 17 were flukes/due to other stuff going on.

Free 120= 93% correct day before, thought this was best preparation for test.


Test day- Please don’t ever call this thing ‘the beast’ its just a f*cking test. I took this little guy and I felt pretty good walking out of it actually. Over the next 3 weeks I counted about 15 I got wrong, including all experimental questions, and there were maybe 5 additional questions I was aware of that I might have gotten wrong. In total I remembered about 160 questions, and could have obviously missed many more. I hoped I didn’t fall below 250, or even below 240. I felt pretty confident that I would do well, my gut said 255.



Other thoughts- I saw earlier on this thread someone giving another person flack for setting their goal at 270, f*ck that! You can score as high as you want to, I truly believe that. Lots of people asking if they think its possible to get x score in y amount of time…. The only person that needs to think it is possible is you! Go get it

 

[Shaptown]

Adding to the thread:

CBSE (6 weeks out): 247
NBME 19 (4 weeks out): 250
UWSA 1 (3 weeks out): 270
UWSA 2 (2.5 weeks out): 260
NBME 17 (2 weeks out): 267
NBME 18 (1 week out): 252

Real deal: 259

Resources: UFAP, Picmonic for various bs (lysosomal storage diseases, mucopolysaccharidoses, brain/bone tumors)

Walked out feeling like absolute ****. I could remember marking an average of 10-12 questions per block and 6 I definitely got wrong. This was very atypical for me based on how I felt during my NBMEs.

Best advice I can give is just trust your practice exam scores. I didn't relax though, and I think it's pretty normal to freak out regardless of what anyone says.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

STEP 1: 265

My advice is probably going to be different than a lot of other advice out there. Also, it will probably not be very useful for someone with a rigid dedicated period, but rather for someone who wants/has been studying a bit for STEP during M1/M2.


A bit about me- It feels good to do well on this test especially after having had to apply to medical school multiple times. However, I did well on the MCAT (think 38-40ish), so I think I’m naturally a good test taker, but there are certainly people who score higher than I do, obviously. My philosophy is to spread the work out over as large of a period of time as possible when it comes to STEP 1. My advice might be useful to you or it might not. As always, take internet advice with a grain of salt.


DO AS MANY Q-BANKS AS POSSIBLE!! It is all about how many questions and unique ‘patient presentations you see.’ After a while, you get a feel for how these patients present and what the question writers are getting at. As they say 85% of diagnoses can be made from the H and P alone, ie. know what the vignettes are getting at! DO IT ON TUTOR MODE SO YOU GET INSTANT FEEDBACK!!! Ideally, start a q-bank (Kaplan or Rx) during M1 and work through sets on tutor mode. I did random,and would end up getting a sh*tload wrong, but I was getting a feel for how the patients present. At this point, I would just see what the correct answer was, and move on, because reading the whole explanation wouldn’t be of benefit because I had no framework for a lot of subjects at that time, but I could remember what a certain disease presentation looked like. **With U-World, during dedicated, obviously spend as much time as you see fit combing through the explanations (for me, some questions I would read all explanations, others I would just read the educational objective- to each his own).



I think I did over 15,000 questions between U-World, USMLERx, PastTest USMLE, BoardVitals, USMLEasy, Amboss, etc etc over M1 and M2, and didn’t have to spend too much time with it because I would just answer the questions and move on, not combing through them (except for some of UW). To give you an idea of the pace I like, there is no reason doing 100 questions should take you more than two hours, in terms of reading the vignette and answering, and seeing what the correct answer was.


Anki- Anki is your friend. I liked the Pepper Pharm deck a lot. I did some of Zanki, but I felt like the questions weren’t super well written and there was lots of redundancy.


Dedicated- 8-10 hours a day ,7 days a week.

Work out every day (either just a run, or lift)

Wake up 10 am (LOL, I know)

Gym + get ready for day until noon.


12-4 read a chapter in FA (could get through most chapters in 1 day)

5-9 do Zanki for said chapter, try to get through as many cards as I could (in 4 hours I could hit about 1500-2000 reviews).

9-11pm do 1-2 UW sets, (remember that I sort of fly through these and only stop to read ones that I am totally not familiar with the answer)

11-12 midnight- do Lange pharm flashcards (awesome resource!!!) or pepper pharm deck.



Pre-Dedicated NBME- 260 (this caused me to shorten my dedicated from 6 to 4 weeks)****

First NBME (16) about 4 weeks out (240, oh **** I thought, but I had been dealing with a breakup and was sort of distracted. Got a lot of encouragement from friends, was able to focus pretty well afterwards).

Second NBME (17) about 2 weeks out (248, not where I wanted to be given my pre-dedicated performance)

NBME (18) two days out 263- big sigh of relief, started thinking 16 and 17 were flukes/due to other stuff going on.

Free 120= 93% correct day before, thought this was best preparation for test.


Test day- Please don’t ever call this thing ‘the beast’ its just a f*cking test. I took this little guy and I felt pretty good walking out of it actually. Over the next 3 weeks I counted about 15 I got wrong, including all experimental questions, and there were maybe 5 additional questions I was aware of that I might have gotten wrong. In total I remembered about 160 questions, and could have obviously missed many more. I hoped I didn’t fall below 250, or even below 240. I felt pretty confident that I would do well, my gut said 255.



Other thoughts- I saw earlier on this thread someone giving another person flack for setting their goal at 270, f*ck that! You can score as high as you want to, I truly believe that. Lots of people asking if they think its possible to get x score in y amount of time…. The only person that needs to think it is possible is you! Go get it

Great score! So you think you got around 260/280 correct? You did all of the NBMEs not just 16, 17 and 18, right? For the questions that you got wrong, were making mostly reasoning errors or was it because you lacked the necessary knowledge? Do you think taking the extra two weeks could have helped you get some of those right? Did you use any resources such as Boards and beyond, sketchy and pathoma?

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

Great score! So you think you got around 260/280 correct? You did all of the NBMEs not just 16, 17 and 18, right? For the questions that you got wrong, were making mostly reasoning errors or was it because you lacked the necessary knowledge? Do you think taking the extra two weeks could have helped you get some of those right? Did you use any resources such as Boards and beyond, sketchy and pathoma?

Great questions, I probably got more than 260/280 wrong, but who knows. Honestly the best way to prepare for step is learning well during M1 and M2, which I did with the help of B&B, Sketchy Micro (not pharm or path for me), and Pathoma (most chapters, a couple I didn't watch). Castanzo's Physiology and Moore's anatomy were awesome too. Most of the questions I got wrong were because I misinterpreted what they were getting at or because my reasoning sounded good in my head but not what they were looking for. Rarely was it a lack of knowing content.

 

[sharkbyte]

Great questions, I probably got more than 260/280 wrong, but who knows. Honestly the best way to prepare for step is learning well during M1 and M2, which I did with the help of B&B, Sketchy Micro (not pharm or path for me), and Pathoma (most chapters, a couple I didn't watch). Castanzo's Physiology and Moore's anatomy were awesome too. Most of the questions I got wrong were because I misinterpreted what they were getting at or because my reasoning sounded good in my head but not what they were looking for. Rarely was it a lack of knowing content.

That would be..um....very concerning

(I know what you meant but just had to pounce ) Congrats on the score!

 

[Mr.Emboli]

STEP 1: 265

My advice is probably going to be different than a lot of other advice out there. Also, it will probably not be very useful for someone with a rigid dedicated period, but rather for someone who wants/has been studying a bit for STEP during M1/M2.


A bit about me- It feels good to do well on this test especially after having had to apply to medical school multiple times. However, I did well on the MCAT (think 38-40ish), so I think I’m naturally a good test taker, but there are certainly people who score higher than I do, obviously. My philosophy is to spread the work out over as large of a period of time as possible when it comes to STEP 1. My advice might be useful to you or it might not. As always, take internet advice with a grain of salt.


DO AS MANY Q-BANKS AS POSSIBLE!! It is all about how many questions and unique ‘patient presentations you see.’ After a while, you get a feel for how these patients present and what the question writers are getting at. As they say 85% of diagnoses can be made from the H and P alone, ie. know what the vignettes are getting at! DO IT ON TUTOR MODE SO YOU GET INSTANT FEEDBACK!!! Ideally, start a q-bank (Kaplan or Rx) during M1 and work through sets on tutor mode. I did random,and would end up getting a sh*tload wrong, but I was getting a feel for how the patients present. At this point, I would just see what the correct answer was, and move on, because reading the whole explanation wouldn’t be of benefit because I had no framework for a lot of subjects at that time, but I could remember what a certain disease presentation looked like. **With U-World, during dedicated, obviously spend as much time as you see fit combing through the explanations (for me, some questions I would read all explanations, others I would just read the educational objective- to each his own).



I think I did over 15,000 questions between U-World, USMLERx, PastTest USMLE, BoardVitals, USMLEasy, Amboss, etc etc over M1 and M2, and didn’t have to spend too much time with it because I would just answer the questions and move on, not combing through them (except for some of UW). To give you an idea of the pace I like, there is no reason doing 100 questions should take you more than two hours, in terms of reading the vignette and answering, and seeing what the correct answer was.


Anki- Anki is your friend. I liked the Pepper Pharm deck a lot. I did some of Zanki, but I felt like the questions weren’t super well written and there was lots of redundancy.


Dedicated- 8-10 hours a day ,7 days a week.

Work out every day (either just a run, or lift)

Wake up 10 am (LOL, I know)

Gym + get ready for day until noon.


12-4 read a chapter in FA (could get through most chapters in 1 day)

5-9 do Zanki for said chapter, try to get through as many cards as I could (in 4 hours I could hit about 1500-2000 reviews).

9-11pm do 1-2 UW sets, (remember that I sort of fly through these and only stop to read ones that I am totally not familiar with the answer)

11-12 midnight- do Lange pharm flashcards (awesome resource!!!) or pepper pharm deck.



Pre-Dedicated NBME- 260 (this caused me to shorten my dedicated from 6 to 4 weeks)****

First NBME (16) about 4 weeks out (240, oh **** I thought, but I had been dealing with a breakup and was sort of distracted. Got a lot of encouragement from friends, was able to focus pretty well afterwards).

Second NBME (17) about 2 weeks out (248, not where I wanted to be given my pre-dedicated performance)

NBME (18) two days out 263- big sigh of relief, started thinking 16 and 17 were flukes/due to other stuff going on.

Free 120= 93% correct day before, thought this was best preparation for test.


Test day- Please don’t ever call this thing ‘the beast’ its just a f*cking test. I took this little guy and I felt pretty good walking out of it actually. Over the next 3 weeks I counted about 15 I got wrong, including all experimental questions, and there were maybe 5 additional questions I was aware of that I might have gotten wrong. In total I remembered about 160 questions, and could have obviously missed many more. I hoped I didn’t fall below 250, or even below 240. I felt pretty confident that I would do well, my gut said 255.



Other thoughts- I saw earlier on this thread someone giving another person flack for setting their goal at 270, f*ck that! You can score as high as you want to, I truly believe that. Lots of people asking if they think its possible to get x score in y amount of time…. The only person that needs to think it is possible is you! Go get it

Hey man, thanks for posting and congratulations on your score. I wanted to get your thoughts and advice. I originally posted on 2017, but someone said I should post on the 2018 thread. Anyone else reading, please reply!

Goal: I want a 250+, 260s would be super amazing.

My progression:

8 weeks out: NBME 17 - 209
6 weeks out: NBME 15 - 238
5 weeks out: UWSA 1 - 266
3 weeks out: NBME 16 - 244
1.5 weeks out: NBME 19 - 244

I feel like my score history is a bit weird compared to many other people, which makes me uneasy about what I should expect. I felt better after NBME 19 after being told that 19 grossly under-predicts, but I'm still worried because I still haven't broken 250 on NBME.

i really want a 250+, and ideally i would get a 260+. But I just don't know if I can believe that at this point. On my most recent NBME (19), I missed a couple questions just from brain farting. Or choosing a different answer because the right answer didn't fit perfectly, when the answer I chose didn't fit at all.

I see that you weren't scoring above a 250 until right before your test, which is similar to my case. What are your thoughts on what I should do these next 1.5 weeks left (I write next Friday).

I will be taking NBME 18 and UWSA2 back to back this coming Monday. I'm planning on doing the free 120, but not sure where to fit it into my schedule yet.

Thank you to everyone reading and replying!

And I'm also not sure how this works, but if you have done NBME 19, can you go to my profile and comment on the thread I made about two questions I'm not sure about. Really sorry about the call out. really new to SDN. I'm not looking to get trophies or points on here. Just looking for advice.

 

[pbrocks15]

STEP 1: 265

My advice is probably going to be different than a lot of other advice out there. Also, it will probably not be very useful for someone with a rigid dedicated period, but rather for someone who wants/has been studying a bit for STEP during M1/M2.


A bit about me- It feels good to do well on this test especially after having had to apply to medical school multiple times. However, I did well on the MCAT (think 38-40ish), so I think I’m naturally a good test taker, but there are certainly people who score higher than I do, obviously. My philosophy is to spread the work out over as large of a period of time as possible when it comes to STEP 1. My advice might be useful to you or it might not. As always, take internet advice with a grain of salt.


DO AS MANY Q-BANKS AS POSSIBLE!! It is all about how many questions and unique ‘patient presentations you see.’ After a while, you get a feel for how these patients present and what the question writers are getting at. As they say 85% of diagnoses can be made from the H and P alone, ie. know what the vignettes are getting at! DO IT ON TUTOR MODE SO YOU GET INSTANT FEEDBACK!!! Ideally, start a q-bank (Kaplan or Rx) during M1 and work through sets on tutor mode. I did random,and would end up getting a sh*tload wrong, but I was getting a feel for how the patients present. At this point, I would just see what the correct answer was, and move on, because reading the whole explanation wouldn’t be of benefit because I had no framework for a lot of subjects at that time, but I could remember what a certain disease presentation looked like. **With U-World, during dedicated, obviously spend as much time as you see fit combing through the explanations (for me, some questions I would read all explanations, others I would just read the educational objective- to each his own).



I think I did over 15,000 questions between U-World, USMLERx, PastTest USMLE, BoardVitals, USMLEasy, Amboss, etc etc over M1 and M2, and didn’t have to spend too much time with it because I would just answer the questions and move on, not combing through them (except for some of UW). To give you an idea of the pace I like, there is no reason doing 100 questions should take you more than two hours, in terms of reading the vignette and answering, and seeing what the correct answer was.


Anki- Anki is your friend. I liked the Pepper Pharm deck a lot. I did some of Zanki, but I felt like the questions weren’t super well written and there was lots of redundancy.


Dedicated- 8-10 hours a day ,7 days a week.

Work out every day (either just a run, or lift)

Wake up 10 am (LOL, I know)

Gym + get ready for day until noon.


12-4 read a chapter in FA (could get through most chapters in 1 day)

5-9 do Zanki for said chapter, try to get through as many cards as I could (in 4 hours I could hit about 1500-2000 reviews).

9-11pm do 1-2 UW sets, (remember that I sort of fly through these and only stop to read ones that I am totally not familiar with the answer)

11-12 midnight- do Lange pharm flashcards (awesome resource!!!) or pepper pharm deck.



Pre-Dedicated NBME- 260 (this caused me to shorten my dedicated from 6 to 4 weeks)****

First NBME (16) about 4 weeks out (240, oh **** I thought, but I had been dealing with a breakup and was sort of distracted. Got a lot of encouragement from friends, was able to focus pretty well afterwards).

Second NBME (17) about 2 weeks out (248, not where I wanted to be given my pre-dedicated performance)

NBME (18) two days out 263- big sigh of relief, started thinking 16 and 17 were flukes/due to other stuff going on.

Free 120= 93% correct day before, thought this was best preparation for test.


Test day- Please don’t ever call this thing ‘the beast’ its just a f*cking test. I took this little guy and I felt pretty good walking out of it actually. Over the next 3 weeks I counted about 15 I got wrong, including all experimental questions, and there were maybe 5 additional questions I was aware of that I might have gotten wrong. In total I remembered about 160 questions, and could have obviously missed many more. I hoped I didn’t fall below 250, or even below 240. I felt pretty confident that I would do well, my gut said 255.



Other thoughts- I saw earlier on this thread someone giving another person flack for setting their goal at 270, f*ck that! You can score as high as you want to, I truly believe that. Lots of people asking if they think its possible to get x score in y amount of time…. The only person that needs to think it is possible is you! Go get it

Congrats on the score!! And congrats to everyone that got their scores. Super impressed.

I was wondering - did you continue with the Zanki reviews the next day for that FA chapter? Or did you just run through it for the day?

Also, you mention doing a lot of questions over a period of time. If you're about to enter dedicated, do you recommend doing a bunch in dedicated or focus on UWorld?

 

[Foramenlacerum]

I will let other people comment on study tips because I was a hot mess during my dedicated and just flailed about trying to acquire information. I think it would be better for all of you to hear that from someone who actually had a plan. I will talk a little bit about my experience because I was honestly preparing to score less than a 220 and I think it is more important to talk about that. First, my numbers, since we are all fact people.

October NBME: 186 (we had only completed 1 course during second year at this time so I wasn't expecting much)
January CBSE: 215 (scared the pooh out of me, but again, I was missing 2+ courses)
> also I had studied the same topics over and over and over. I killed it on those topics. Bombed my least favorite topics. The jump from 215 > 238 was a result of studying those topics.
NBME beginning of dedicated (End of February): 230
NBME 4 weeks out: 238 (I was so mad, I had been studying hard core for two weeks and had only gone up 8 points)
UWSA1 (maybe a week later): 254
NBMEs during dedicated: 239, 241, 238? (form 19 right before the test)
UWSA2(1 week out): 243 (don't focus on this score so much, I took this after doing 3 UW blocks on an empty stomach. I got a 90% on block 1 and then tanked the last 2 blocks because I was HANGRY and over it)
Real deal: 250

For people who care: my MCAT was average, and medical schools didn't want me at first, but I persisted and here we are.

About me: I exist in a constant state of slightly above averageness. Like my gift in life is to be slightly above average at LITERALLY EVERYTHING. I am really good at it. No matter what I do, I some how always manage to be slightly above average. It's a really awkward place to be. Also, until today, I was the most unlucky person you will probably ever meet. Maybe I was saving up for today! Either way, I am feeling so unbelievably blessed.
Med School career- my school doesn't rank, but I would say (based on ranges of scores on exams and shelfs I was probably in the top 25% at a top 50 med school).
> my school is awful as far as delivering content. Essentially no one goes to class and I had to teach myself almost everything over the course of years 1 + 2. I like my school, but they are going through some changes and the growing pains show for sure. That being said, I am a little irritated about that. I just sat through a lecture from a professor from another school and it was the BEST lecture I have ever attended in my life. Had I had the pleasure of having him as a teacher for 2 years I would have blown this test out of the water.
> Qbanks- this is how I studied for exams. Starting MS1, I used Kaplan in blocks by subject. This really helped and I was usually scoring 1SD+ above the mean on the NBME shelf exams.
> FA- I used FA from day 1, but to be honest, I didn't really like it. I didn't use it much during dedicated
> UW- I went through UW twice, once during MS1/2 with my classes and once during dedicated. I tried to go back through my incorrect, but my brain was tired. I have no idea what my first pass average was because I used it as a learning tool. My second pass was in the 80s. I didn't review my first pass and it was almost a full year before I did my second pass. That being said, I did not remember the questions and I felt like it was a good move because it pulled out the areas that I really needed to focus on and the ones that I was solid in despite having not seen them in a year.
USMLERx- I used it during dedicated and I think it helped me with some topics I would not have otherwise covered because I couldn't stand to read FA
> Anki- made the cards, never went through them...oops.
THE TEST: as I am sure all of you have seen, I thought my score was going to be a disaster. I cannot comment on the test very much because, I swear to you, I am pretty sure I blacked out. I know I missed 21 questions for sure. Granted these were the only questions I remembered because I couldn't figure them out during the test. Please refer back through the tread to see my comments about my exam.
Quick summary: (side note, I have NEVER had test anxiety! Like ever. I mean during the school year I would just waltz in sit down and take the test like it was no big deal. USMLE STEP1 day was VERY different).
> First 2 blocks "OMFG WHAT THE H IS THIS OMG OMG OMG I AM GOING TO FAILLLLLL, my career is OVERRRRRRRR"
> took a break, cried in bathroom >>>> "Okay you have to pull yourself together, you can do this, deep breath." successfully pulled myself together
> block 3: "okay this is better, hard, but better" > I'm hungry > 5minute break to essentially swallow Jimmy John's #2 BIG JOHN whole.
> block 4-whatever: I marked like 6-8 questions on each one, 1/2 I think I got correct, the other half I was like "UGHHHH WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ME?!?!?! WHYYYYYY???????"

Words of "wisdom"
If you have been doing well in medical school and are consistent on the NBMEs (which you should be taking like real tests, that means no looking up answers etc), then you can expect to earn a solid score. Work on areas that you are weakest or don't like. Know that when you are sitting there having the world's most colossal mental breakdown that everyone is in the same boat! (Caveat: everyone except all these brainy freaks on here that easily score >250). I forced myself to study the stuff I hated and it paid off. For example: my General Principles and Behavioral sections were consistently my lowest scores on the practice NBMEs. On the real deal I earned stars in those sections. That's a big deal and will help you a lot. It does no good to continuously go over the same stuff over and over again. You know it, move on. If you are getting stars on sections on multiple NBMEs during dedicated, move on, you know it. Focus on the areas that you are not getting stars in. Or your lowest areas. For most of us, these will be consistent.
I wish I could contribute to more about what I did or didn't do, but really I didn't have a plan. I was just flying by the seat of my pants. I looked at areas I wasn't good at and I went from there. As you can see from my scores on the practice exams, they were not very predictive, but they were VERY consistent. I think that is important. If you are climbing 10 points on every test, that is great! But that doesn't mean you will get your highest score. Yes, of course you want that upward trend, but I walked into the test feeling pretty confident I was going to score a 238/240 given that I had essentially scored that ad nauseam. And then I nearly pooped my pants and thought all hope was lost.

Fun Fact: (I hope I can share this) at the bottom of my score report it says that the scoring takes into account what score you would receive if you were tested multiple times. This is used to make up for the variability in the tests you are administered. Granted they could have just typed that on there to make everyone feel like this exam was fair, but from what I have seen (with the exception of a few people who either blow it out of the water or tank due to some extenuating circumstances), I believe this to be true. In talking to my classmates about NBME practice test scores, my friends who had always scored much lower (10-20%) than I had during medical school were scoring in the same ranges on the NBMEs as I was. But they were averaging much lower on UW. That makes zero sense.

Hindsight: I think that if I had started using ANKI and FA from day one I would have blown this test out of the water (oh and add that guy who just gave me a lecture, he was da bomb). For example, I studied for no more than 3 hours for several NBME shelf exams during MS2 and managed to get solid scores. I would wake up at 4-5 am for a 9 am exam, read through FA and show up. Granted I had gone through those sections on UW, but that was it. DO NOT DO THIS! I would purge the information immediately after the exam. Trust yourself. That whole gut thing, it's REALLL. I mean I essentially blacked out and didn't even remember my exam. Clearly some part of me was working. It just wasn't the conscious part.

At the end of the day, most things work out. Most of us will get scores that make sense based on the last two years of our lives. Some of us will not, some of us will do much better, some of us will not. But big picture, everything does work out in the end. If you don't score high enough to land your dream job, maybe that is because you were meant to do something else. I know that sucks and it is so cliche, but I have seen people not get the job they thought they wanted and end up being WILDLY successful doing the job they didn't know they would love. I can't tell you how lucky I feel right now. And in return for that luck, I promise to be an AWESOME doctor and more importantly, I promise to always try to be a great person. So I will leave you with this. Leave SDN, study your brains out. Because "The harder I work, the more luck I have." < fun fact no one actually knows who said this. Just do it

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

Congrats on the score!! And congrats to everyone that got their scores. Super impressed.

I was wondering - did you continue with the Zanki reviews the next day for that FA chapter? Or did you just run through it for the day?

Also, you mention doing a lot of questions over a period of time. If you're about to enter dedicated, do you recommend doing a bunch in dedicated or focus on UWorld?

It sort of depended with zanki, usually I'd be pretty close to finishing and I'd finish the next day or so. But sometimes I found that I wasn't getting much out of it and dropped it. As for reviews, I only did much reviewing for pharm and micro- the others I would just hit the 10min button and then when it came again the 1d button if I got it right and perhaps see it the next day but perhaps never see it again- truly like drinking from the firehose.

For UW I did half in the month leading up to dedicated and half during dedicated- and it was the only qbank I used during dedicated

 

[Barry'sAneurysm]

Hey man, thanks for posting and congratulations on your score. I wanted to get your thoughts and advice. I originally posted on 2017, but someone said I should post on the 2018 thread. Anyone else reading, please reply!

Goal: I want a 250+, 260s would be super amazing.

My progression:

8 weeks out: NBME 17 - 209
6 weeks out: NBME 15 - 238
5 weeks out: UWSA 1 - 266
3 weeks out: NBME 16 - 244
1.5 weeks out: NBME 19 - 244

I feel like my score history is a bit weird compared to many other people, which makes me uneasy about what I should expect. I felt better after NBME 19 after being told that 19 grossly under-predicts, but I'm still worried because I still haven't broken 250 on NBME.

i really want a 250+, and ideally i would get a 260+. But I just don't know if I can believe that at this point. On my most recent NBME (19), I missed a couple questions just from brain farting. Or choosing a different answer because the right answer didn't fit perfectly, when the answer I chose didn't fit at all.

I see that you weren't scoring above a 250 until right before your test, which is similar to my case. What are your thoughts on what I should do these next 1.5 weeks left (I write next Friday).

I will be taking NBME 18 and UWSA2 back to back this coming Monday. I'm planning on doing the free 120, but not sure where to fit it into my schedule yet.

Thank you to everyone reading and replying!

And I'm also not sure how this works, but if you have done NBME 19, can you go to my profile and comment on the thread I made about two questions I'm not sure about. Really sorry about the call out. really new to SDN. I'm not looking to get trophies or points on here. Just looking for advice.

lol I think you'll break 250 on your next tests without having to do anything since the curve is so harsh on 19 from what I understand.

What helped me was just really drilling out the fine details and going through (lightly) first aid and making anki cards from some factoids (like I'd pick 2 facts per page to make a card from but no more, or else it would take forever, and by picking two facts against others I would remember the others by debating which to make cards out of). So I sort of had my own high yield deck I was adding things to

 

[step1throwaway2020]

Long time lurker, posting from a throwaway account - I figured I would contribute my experience to this thread.

Practice test timeline:
UWSA 1: 279 (4.5 weeks out)
UWSA 2: 273 (3.5 weeks out)
NBME 13: 271 (2.5 weeks out)
NBME 15: 261 (11 days out)
NBME 16: 269 (9 days out)
NBME 17: 271 (7 days out)
NBME 18: 263 (5 days out)
NBME 19: 265 (2 days out)

Kaplan qbank (timed random non-tutor): 85%
Uworld (single pass during dedicated, timed random non-tutor): 92%

Real deal: 272

I started doing step studying seriously in November of last year, and did not take our school-administered CBSE until shortly before my dedicated period began, so I wouldn't really consider it a "baseline" score - but I scored an 89 on it (which correlates to just shy of 250 I believe).

I attribute most of my performance to doing Boards and Beyond, Pathoma, and Zanki during second year to hammer in the basics and using the Kaplan and Uworld qbanks to hone my test-taking skills and become good at making educated guesses, which I did quite a bit of on test day.

 

[DubbiDoctor]

Long time lurker, posting from a throwaway account - I figured I would contribute my experience to this thread.

Practice test timeline:
UWSA 1: 279 (4.5 weeks out)
UWSA 2: 273 (3.5 weeks out)
NBME 13: 271 (2.5 weeks out)
NBME 15: 261 (11 days out)
NBME 16: 269 (9 days out)
NBME 17: 271 (7 days out)
NBME 18: 263 (5 days out)
NBME 19: 265 (2 days out)

Kaplan qbank (timed random non-tutor): 85%
Uworld (single pass during dedicated, timed random non-tutor): 92%

Real deal: 272

I started doing step studying seriously in November of last year, and did not take our school-administered CBSE until shortly before my dedicated period began, so I wouldn't really consider it a "baseline" score - but I scored an 89 on it (which correlates to just shy of 250 I believe).

I attribute most of my performance to doing Boards and Beyond, Pathoma, and Zanki during second year to hammer in the basics and using the Kaplan and Uworld qbanks to hone my test-taking skills and become good at making educated guesses, which I did quite a bit of on test day.

INSANELY GOOD SCORE. We are all very proud of you! Not to inundate you with questions, but your insight would be very valuable. How did you do on the MCAT? Were you at the top of your class? How many questions do you think you got wrong? Were the questions you got wrong due to reasoning errors or lack of knowledge, and would it have been possible to prepare better for them? Did you use sketchy or any other resource besides for those mentioned in this post? How long was your dedicated and how many hours per day did you study? What was your goal score? Do you have any general test-taking advice? Was the exam more similar, in your view, to UWorld or NBME? Are you an M2 or M3? What specialty do you plan on pursuing?

 

[step1throwaway2020]

INSANELY GOOD SCORE. We are all very proud of you! Not to inundate you with questions, but your insight would be very valuable. How did you do on the MCAT? Were you at the top of your class? How many questions do you think you got wrong? Were the questions you got wrong due to reasoning errors or lack of knowledge, and would it have been possible to prepare better for them? Did you use sketchy or any other resource besides for those mentioned in this post? How long was your dedicated and how many hours per day did you study? What was your goal score? Do you have any general test-taking advice? Was the exam more similar, in your view, to UWorld or NBME? Are you an M2 or M3? What specialty do you plan on pursuing?

1) 40 on MCAT

2) there were four questions that I know 100% for sure I got wrong. These were questions that were basically straight out of UWorld or FA with relatively simple answer choices and question stems. There were another 10-12 where I know I made a not-so-educated guess and just picked an answer that made the most sense to me at the time; I could have done UFAP until the cows came home, and I still wouldn't have been prepped for these questions. I couldn't even look the answers to these up because I didn't recall enough of the details of the question or the answer choices. And then there had to be at least ten, perhaps fifteen or even twenty more that I made educated guesses on and never had time to review.

3) I used sketchy heavily throughout M2 for both micro and pharm (did not like it for path, except for super random stuff to remember like ovarian tumors and the like). I did not use sketchy during dedicated.

4) Dedicated was 5.5 weeks long. I probably averaged about eight hours per day of work, which was primarily centered around UWorld. However, I did FA/Pathoma via zanki pretty hard during M2, which allowed me a relatively light dedicated schedule.

5) My goal score was as high as I could possibly get. I guess if I had to put a number on it, it would be 270.

6) No real test-taking advice other than what has been echoed on SDN many times - every question has a definite correct answer, and if you can recognize the disease process being described in the vignette, the answer is usually pretty obvious. Pattern recognition is key. Obviously there is a lot of stuff to memorize, which sucks, but being able to recognize a common disease process being described in an uncommon way is critical IMO. Also, be comfortable with how very common disease process will look on gross pathology - given the NBME practice exams and my experience on Step 1, the NBME loves to give images with no (or very little) context or accompanying vignette.

7) Exam felt like UWorld in the length of vignettes but covered some seemingly random topics like the NBMEs. Also, in agreement with many posters I have seen on this thread, Step 1 will not give you every single diagnostic criteria or buzzphrase that accompanies a disease process. UWorld questions have long vignettes, but they give so much supporting evidence for the diagnosis that it is easy to be 100% sure on many questions. This is generally not the case with NBMEs or Step 1.

8) I am an M2 (well, soon-to-be M3).

9) No real ideas on specialty. Though I can tell you that I did not suddenly develop an interest in skin disease...

 

[ERDOC555]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time to post today!

I've been getting pretty burned out and it was really great to see so many other success stories! Helped me refocus and get back on the path to getting a top score!

 

[medgal1025201]

So my last 5 Uworld average has been around 85%. I feel like I sort of know things but then I panic and think that I only know the things that Uworld is asking & I’m not going to know anything on the real thing..... can someone tell me that I’m wrong (or freak me out more & tell me I’m right)

 

[takotsubo13]

got my score yesterday, these threads were useful to me so here's my progression

NBME 13 (school mandated, 5 mo. out) - 145
CBSE (3 mo out) 193
NBME 15 - 217
NBME 16 - 231
UWSA 1 - 245
NBME 17 - 245
NBME 18 - 234
UWSA 2 - 244
NBME 19 - 234
Free 120 - 82%

UW 1st pass - 66%
UW 2nd pass - 88%

Step1: 249


First emotion was relief as I was bracing myself for something in the 230's. Really elated with this score as my goal was always a 240+
I really struggled during first year, mostly scoring at average or slightly below in my exams. I was super discouraged after that first NBME. Worked my ass off for 6 months and I knew going in that I did everything I could and it feels great to see all that work pay off. Keep fighting the good fight everyone, hard work will be rewarded!

Congratulations man that's an amazing score . How long before your exam did you give the free 120?

 

[Evolver]

I will let other people comment on study tips because I was a hot mess during my dedicated and just flailed about trying to acquire information. I think it would be better for all of you to hear that from someone who actually had a plan. I will talk a little bit about my experience because I was honestly preparing to score less than a 220 and I think it is more important to talk about that. First, my numbers, since we are all fact people.

October NBME: 186 (we had only completed 1 course during second year at this time so I wasn't expecting much)
January CBSE: 215 (scared the pooh out of me, but again, I was missing 2+ courses)
> also I had studied the same topics over and over and over. I killed it on those topics. Bombed my least favorite topics. The jump from 215 > 238 was a result of studying those topics.
NBME beginning of dedicated (End of February): 230
NBME 4 weeks out: 238 (I was so mad, I had been studying hard core for two weeks and had only gone up 8 points)
UWSA1 (maybe a week later): 254
NBMEs during dedicated: 239, 241, 238? (form 19 right before the test)
UWSA2(1 week out): 243 (don't focus on this score so much, I took this after doing 3 UW blocks on an empty stomach. I got a 90% on block 1 and then tanked the last 2 blocks because I was HANGRY and over it)
Real deal: 250

For people who care: my MCAT was average, and medical schools didn't want me at first, but I persisted and here we are.

About me: I exist in a constant state of slightly above averageness. Like my gift in life is to be slightly above average at LITERALLY EVERYTHING. I am really good at it. No matter what I do, I some how always manage to be slightly above average. It's a really awkward place to be. Also, until today, I was the most unlucky person you will probably ever meet. Maybe I was saving up for today! Either way, I am feeling so unbelievably blessed.
Med School career- my school doesn't rank, but I would say (based on ranges of scores on exams and shelfs I was probably in the top 25% at a top 50 med school).
> my school is awful as far as delivering content. Essentially no one goes to class and I had to teach myself almost everything over the course of years 1 + 2. I like my school, but they are going through some changes and the growing pains show for sure. That being said, I am a little irritated about that. I just sat through a lecture from a professor from another school and it was the BEST lecture I have ever attended in my life. Had I had the pleasure of having him as a teacher for 2 years I would have blown this test out of the water.
> Qbanks- this is how I studied for exams. Starting MS1, I used Kaplan in blocks by subject. This really helped and I was usually scoring 1SD+ above the mean on the NBME shelf exams.
> FA- I used FA from day 1, but to be honest, I didn't really like it. I didn't use it much during dedicated
> UW- I went through UW twice, once during MS1/2 with my classes and once during dedicated. I tried to go back through my incorrect, but my brain was tired. I have no idea what my first pass average was because I used it as a learning tool. My second pass was in the 80s. I didn't review my first pass and it was almost a full year before I did my second pass. That being said, I did not remember the questions and I felt like it was a good move because it pulled out the areas that I really needed to focus on and the ones that I was solid in despite having not seen them in a year.
USMLERx- I used it during dedicated and I think it helped me with some topics I would not have otherwise covered because I couldn't stand to read FA
> Anki- made the cards, never went through them...oops.
THE TEST: as I am sure all of you have seen, I thought my score was going to be a disaster. I cannot comment on the test very much because, I swear to you, I am pretty sure I blacked out. I know I missed 21 questions for sure. Granted these were the only questions I remembered because I couldn't figure them out during the test. Please refer back through the tread to see my comments about my exam.
Quick summary: (side note, I have NEVER had test anxiety! Like ever. I mean during the school year I would just waltz in sit down and take the test like it was no big deal. USMLE STEP1 day was VERY different).
> First 2 blocks "OMFG WHAT THE H IS THIS OMG OMG OMG I AM GOING TO FAILLLLLL, my career is OVERRRRRRRR"
> took a break, cried in bathroom >>>> "Okay you have to pull yourself together, you can do this, deep breath." successfully pulled myself together
> block 3: "okay this is better, hard, but better" > I'm hungry > 5minute break to essentially swallow Jimmy John's #2 BIG JOHN whole.
> block 4-whatever: I marked like 6-8 questions on each one, 1/2 I think I got correct, the other half I was like "UGHHHH WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE ME?!?!?! WHYYYYYY???????"

Words of "wisdom"
If you have been doing well in medical school and are consistent on the NBMEs (which you should be taking like real tests, that means no looking up answers etc), then you can expect to earn a solid score. Work on areas that you are weakest or don't like. Know that when you are sitting there having the world's most colossal mental breakdown that everyone is in the same boat! (Caveat: everyone except all these brainy freaks on here that easily score >250). I forced myself to study the stuff I hated and it paid off. For example: my General Principles and Behavioral sections were consistently my lowest scores on the practice NBMEs. On the real deal I earned stars in those sections. That's a big deal and will help you a lot. It does no good to continuously go over the same stuff over and over again. You know it, move on. If you are getting stars on sections on multiple NBMEs during dedicated, move on, you know it. Focus on the areas that you are not getting stars in. Or your lowest areas. For most of us, these will be consistent.
I wish I could contribute to more about what I did or didn't do, but really I didn't have a plan. I was just flying by the seat of my pants. I looked at areas I wasn't good at and I went from there. As you can see from my scores on the practice exams, they were not very predictive, but they were VERY consistent. I think that is important. If you are climbing 10 points on every test, that is great! But that doesn't mean you will get your highest score. Yes, of course you want that upward trend, but I walked into the test feeling pretty confident I was going to score a 238/240 given that I had essentially scored that ad nauseam. And then I nearly pooped my pants and thought all hope was lost.

Fun Fact: (I hope I can share this) at the bottom of my score report it says that the scoring takes into account what score you would receive if you were tested multiple times. This is used to make up for the variability in the tests you are administered. Granted they could have just typed that on there to make everyone feel like this exam was fair, but from what I have seen (with the exception of a few people who either blow it out of the water or tank due to some extenuating circumstances), I believe this to be true. In talking to my classmates about NBME practice test scores, my friends who had always scored much lower (10-20%) than I had during medical school were scoring in the same ranges on the NBMEs as I was. But they were averaging much lower on UW. That makes zero sense.

Hindsight: I think that if I had started using ANKI and FA from day one I would have blown this test out of the water (oh and add that guy who just gave me a lecture, he was da bomb). For example, I studied for no more than 3 hours for several NBME shelf exams during MS2 and managed to get solid scores. I would wake up at 4-5 am for a 9 am exam, read through FA and show up. Granted I had gone through those sections on UW, but that was it. DO NOT DO THIS! I would purge the information immediately after the exam. Trust yourself. That whole gut thing, it's REALLL. I mean I essentially blacked out and didn't even remember my exam. Clearly some part of me was working. It just wasn't the conscious part.

At the end of the day, most things work out. Most of us will get scores that make sense based on the last two years of our lives. Some of us will not, some of us will do much better, some of us will not. But big picture, everything does work out in the end. If you don't score high enough to land your dream job, maybe that is because you were meant to do something else. I know that sucks and it is so cliche, but I have seen people not get the job they thought they wanted and end up being WILDLY successful doing the job they didn't know they would love. I can't tell you how lucky I feel right now. And in return for that luck, I promise to be an AWESOME doctor and more importantly, I promise to always try to be a great person. So I will leave you with this. Leave SDN, study your brains out. Because "The harder I work, the more luck I have." < fun fact no one actually knows who said this. Just do it

Thank you so much for this write up. I'm taking it tomorrow and just feel like my mind is blank and it's just going to be pages and pages of chaos, but this made me feel much better. It seems like the test is rough on most people and you just gotta be confident in your preparation and trust your gut!

 

[orangetea]

For those that took the exam..

I notice that NBME test the same topics over and over (thyroid receptor, ALS, etc)
does that seem to be the trend for the real deal with a sprinkle of wtf questions?

Thanks and congrats to everyone who did so well today!

 

[Nephronlearner]

For those that took the exam..

I notice that NBME test the same topics over and over (thyroid receptor, ALS, etc)
does that seem to be the trend for the real deal with a sprinkle of wtf questions?

Thanks and congrats to everyone who did so well today!

I would say that on my test >50% of the questions were commonly encountered concepts on common conditions - the exact things you expect to see (having done UW and NBME).
The rest of the questions are a mix of the more difficult UW/NBME (the type of UW question that would get 30% correct)
A small number of questions (maybe 5% each) were either hilariously easy or shockingly impossible. By shockingly easy I mean questions that you would get correct even with high school level human biology courses; by impossible I mean stuff that you wouldn't encounter outside of a PhD programme.

Overall, I felt 2/3 of the test could easily be dealt with by knowing the "usual concepts". That is in part why I believe that FA is far too detailed as I have never been asked about so many topics mentioned there - not in UW, not in NBME, not on the real test.
The rest of questions were a mix of details you might remember from med school modules, test taking skills (figuring what you are being asked in a very vague question) or simply getting lucky on one of the bizarre questions as you are highly unlikely to know those concepts.

 

[Foramenlacerum]

Thank you so much for this write up. I'm taking it tomorrow and just feel like my mind is blank and it's just going to be pages and pages of chaos, but this made me feel much better. It seems like the test is rough on most people and you just gotta be confident in your preparation and trust your gut!

this is awesome. Glad I could help. Just be confident and take deep breaths. I always have the mentality that I don’t need to be the best, I just want to be invited to the party. I’ve never been one of those 270 people and that’s perfectly fine with me. As long as I work hard and I see that hard work pay off, that’s all you can ask for. You got this!