USMLE Official 2018 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Foot Fetish]

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

My stats:

M2
Test time: June 2018
Goal score: 270

 

[sharkbyte]

Is that UWorld/Kaplan score correlation website that's been floated around here a lot any accurate? I've done 27% of UW so far and am at a 73%. I know it's a small sample size but I've been fluctuating around the 70-80% mark pretty consistently on timed, random sets of 40. According to that correlation thing, that puts me roughly around a 255 but I feel like I am nowhere near that, considering I start dedicated Friday. Maybe I have to just wait until I finish all of UW although I would hope I don't drop down too much from where I am now...

 

[Krabbeman]

about to start my last block of nbme 17 and it feels like I'm getting absolutely demolished

 

[Krabbeman]

about to start my last block of nbme 17 and it feels like I'm getting absolutely demolished

@DubbiDoctor you like that I'm getting destroyed by nbme 17?!! WOW I thought we were friends lmao jk

 

[apoplectic]

But our step avg every year is a 244.

Anyways this is a long way to say I think hard work matters a ton. If you treat step as a joke your going to totally underperform... But I think it’s more so the culture of my school not being a “work hard” culture.

Yet you stated today that you are getting destroyed on NBME 17.
Im confused. You obviously are working hard and your school average is 244.
So how is it you are getting destroyed on NBME 17?

Now I am more worried than ever considering my Step 1 is next month

What message are you sending to students like me who attend a school where fhe Step 1 average is 230 and also works hard, but you are getting destroyed on NBME 17 ?

I hope you just being a tad dramatic because otherwise....yikes!

 

[apoplectic]

I actually prioritized those topics that summer. I would watch the Sketchy videos on 2x speed and then immediately do a first pass of the corresponding Zanki deck. For every other topic (i.e. biochem and organ systems), I would just do brute force Zanki. No pre-reading. No Pathoma. If a card wasn't clear enough, I'd just take a moment to Google it. Around class finals period, I would read the corresponding First Aid chapters for that term line by line x1 and make some additional cards for the rare topics that were omitted from Zanki.

When do you know you are ready, NBME scores aside?

I am reviewing UW for the 3rd time, I have done FA three times, Pathoma twice, three NBME tests, and yet, as God is my witness, I sometimes go blank on rote memorization stuff. Concepts are fine. Naming the enzyme of x, y and z pathway, remembering AD vs AR vs X linked genetics, Class I pharmaco drugs, hem/onc, ions and receptors, etc...I just dont think I will ever know everything.

I know students who cried when they left the Prometric Center yet were later stunned they scored 260

help

 

[Foramenlacerum]

Is that UWorld/Kaplan score correlation website that's been floated around here a lot any accurate? I've done 27% of UW so far and am at a 73%. I know it's a small sample size but I've been fluctuating around the 70-80% mark pretty consistently on timed, random sets of 40. According to that correlation thing, that puts me roughly around a 255 but I feel like I am nowhere near that, considering I start dedicated Friday. Maybe I have to just wait until I finish all of UW although I would hope I don't drop down too much from where I am now...

Overpredicted for me by about 10 points.

 

[Krabbeman]

Yet you stated today that you are getting destroyed on NBME 17.
Im confused. You obviously are working hard and your school average is 244.
So how is it you are getting destroyed on NBME 17?

Now I am more worried than ever considering my Step 1 is next month

What message are you sending to students like me who attend a school where fhe Step 1 average is 230 and also works hard, but you are getting destroyed on NBME 17 ?

I hope you just being a tad dramatic because otherwise....yikes!

My bad my man. I just finished up 17 and turns out I missed 12 total for a 255 (which is my 3rd 255 in a row after taking 3 nbmes in the last 4 days, just for context). I was in fact being dramatic. But it really did feel like I was missing every question while I was taking it.

Don't let people on here psyche you out. That certainly wasn't my intention so I apologize. Just be a boss and don't listen to drama kings like me. I feel badly for unintentionally psyching you out

 

[apoplectic]

My bad my man. I just finished up 17 and turns out I missed 12 total for a 255 (which is my 3rd 255 in a row after taking 3 nbmes in the last 4 days, just for context). I was in fact being dramatic. But it really did feel like I was missing every question while I was taking it.

Don't let people on here psyche you out. That certainly wasn't my intention so I apologize. Just be a boss and don't listen to drama kings like me. I feel badly for unintentionally psyching you out

I gave up Adderall and Xanax 1 week ago cold turkey because it was screwing with me. I havent even told my doctor and I am supposed to see her in 2 weeks. I feel like sleep deprivation was killing me. I have studied so much for Step 1 but for the life of me I cant recite every gd enzyme or cascade in biochem. The toxins in microbiology are a blur. The translocations in cancer, the neuro drugs for seizures....just eats at me

Do you ever know everything at this level (as to step 1 content)?

 

[bom602]

Anyone take it today? I'm curious what everyone thought. (Is this the right thread to discuss it in?)

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I gave up Adderall and Xanax 1 week ago cold turkey because it was screwing with me. I havent even told my doctor and I am supposed to see her in 2 weeks. I feel like sleep deprivation was killing me. I have studied so much for Step 1 but for the life of me I cant recite every gd enzyme or cascade in biochem. The toxins in microbiology are a blur. The translocations in cancer, the neuro drugs for seizures....just eats at me

Do you ever know everything at this level (as to step 1 content)?

Hope you’re well man. I quit adderall and Xanax cold a few years ago and it’s no easy feat. Be sure not to do anything rash, the quitting can seriously mess with your head.

And don’t be too hard on yourself. You don’t need to remember all the random crappy enzymes and virulence factors. You know what you know and get the score you get. It’s no use beating yourself up over CA125 or which bugs are oxidase positive...it won’t change anything. Chances are you’re already in the 1% of the 1% - don’t forget that.

 

[orangetea]

Anyone take it today? I'm curious what everyone thought. (Is this the right thread to discuss it in?)

yes this is exactly where you should explain how you felt, level of difficulty, question types (of course not giving content), etc 🙂

so that the rest of us waiting in line can feel assured that it isn't as monstrous as we make it up in our head =/

 

[apoplectic]

Hope you’re well man. I quit adderall and Xanax cold a few years ago and it’s no easy feat. Be sure not to do anything rash, the quitting can seriously mess with your head.

And don’t be too hard on yourself. You don’t need to remember all the random crappy enzymes and virulence factors. You know what you know and get the score you get. It’s no use beating yourself up over CA125 or which bugs are oxidase positive...it won’t change anything. Chances are you’re already in the 1% of the 1% - don’t forget that.

Thank you. I am hoping to get past the Adderall / Xanax cycle I had grown to accept as necessary, doctor’s orders, and enjoy being me again. My husband says I look more rested. I am now sleeping 7 hours nightly vs 4 hours previously. Insane

I will be taking another NBME, am meeting with my advisor, and assess. Sigh

 

[Foot Fetish]

When do you know you are ready, NBME scores aside?

I am reviewing UW for the 3rd time, I have done FA three times, Pathoma twice, three NBME tests, and yet, as God is my witness, I sometimes go blank on rote memorization stuff. Concepts are fine. Naming the enzyme of x, y and z pathway, remembering AD vs AR vs X linked genetics, Class I pharmaco drugs, hem/onc, ions and receptors, etc...I just dont think I will ever know everything.

I know students who cried when they left the Prometric Center yet were later stunned they scored 260

help

Unfortunately, there's no easy solution to memorizing those nitty gritty details. It comes down to repetition and mnemonics. From Day 1 of my preparation, I concluded that Step 1 is little more than a memorization test. Now, after having done over 300,000 total Anki reviews over ~860 cumulative hours, I PRAY for those fact recall questions. It sounds like you're very close to your test date, so at this point it's probably best to compile a list of those minute details and devote some time to rote memorizing them. There's no way around it, really.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Thank you. I am hoping to get past the Adderall / Xanax cycle I had grown to accept as necessary, doctor’s orders, and enjoy being me again. My husband says I look more rested. I am now sleeping 7 hours nightly vs 4 hours previously. Insane

I will be taking another NBME, am meeting with my advisor, and assess. Sigh

That’s awesome. You’ll be surprised. At least I found that after getting off the meds, my number of hours studied went down... But retention went up a ton. Exam scores jumped up too.

Quality over quantity IMO.

PM me if you ever wanna vent 🙂

 

[apoplectic]

Unfortunately, there's no easy solution to memorizing those nitty gritty details. It comes down to repetition and mnemonics. From Day 1 of my preparation, I concluded that Step 1 is little more than a memorization test. Now, after having done over 300,000 total Anki reviews over ~860 cumulative hours, I PRAY for those fact recall questions. It sounds like you're very close to your test date, so at this point it's probably best to compile a list of those minute details and devote some time to rote memorizing them. There's no way around it, really.

Thanks for the response. Today I cracked open FA, got pen, paper and a ruler, and started hand writing columns and charts of factoids over and over again, until they stuck. Reviewing content isnt my weakness. Just minutiae.

Dr Goljan says in one of his audio lectures (hypoxia, I think) that some of us would benefit from plugging our ears to prevent content memorized from falling out.
Where does one buy these plugs? As if

 

[DubbiDoctor]

My bad my man. I just finished up 17 and turns out I missed 12 total for a 255 (which is my 3rd 255 in a row after taking 3 nbmes in the last 4 days, just for context). I was in fact being dramatic. But it really did feel like I was missing every question while I was taking it.

Don't let people on here psyche you out. That certainly wasn't my intention so I apologize. Just be a boss and don't listen to drama kings like me. I feel badly for unintentionally psyching you out

That's why I liked your post - I was pretty sure you had done well and were just over-reacting! Think you'll likely get 255-265 on the real thing.

 

[acc24]

Just finished nbme 19 (213), i had a 234 on nbme 16 last week. ive seen ppl say that nbme 19 underpredicts by at least 10 points. Is this still true. I know that it prob was when it came out more than a year ago. I was pretty happy last week about the 234. Idk what im even looking for right know, im kinda worried my exam is on friday. How should i approach what i got on nbme19, i feel like i could/should have had 5-6 qs in my favor. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[theonlytycrane]

I actually prioritized those topics that summer. I would watch the Sketchy videos on 2x speed and then immediately do a first pass of the corresponding Zanki deck. For every other topic (i.e. biochem and organ systems), I would just do brute force Zanki. No pre-reading. No Pathoma. If a card wasn't clear enough, I'd just take a moment to Google it. Around class finals period, I would read the corresponding First Aid chapters for that term line by line x1 and make some additional cards for the rare topics that were omitted from Zanki.

Just to clarify, did you get through all of Zanki during the summer? If so, did you keep doing reviews (specific to each block or with all cards) as you started m2?

 

[AFishAnt]

I took nbme 13 at the beginning of dedicated and thought the questions were relatively easy/buzzword heavy compared to UW. planning on taking 15 next but i was wondering if I should take a later nbme (18/19) instead to orient myself since people say those are more representative of the real exam. i dont want to go through dedicated and focus on the wrong material/depth. do the later nbmes focus on different material or are they just not buzzword heavy?

 

[quietninja72]

Good luck to everyone today!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Nephronlearner]

Good luck to everyone getting their scores today!

 

[EGW2018]

Would anybody who got score like to share your experience today? Very appreciate it 🙂

 

[mistafab]

OMG Guys - thanks be to the glory of all.

Got a 245! Pulled that one straight outta thin air!

 

[mistafab]

Quoting myself here to give peeps an idea of my progression. My REACH score was 240 so I feel freaking pumped with this 245. LOL feels so good can’t wait to enjoy a big fat maduro cigar tonight and some scotch.

The step 1 itself for me was FULL of gimmies. Like literally so many gimmie question where you either know what they are saying within 10-15 seconds or you are going to sit there perplexed. This should be a relief to some here worried about what the actual test was like. My experience is that if you have MASTERED the basics then you will do really well, and anything beyond that will be what differentiates higher and higher scores.

So overall very pleased with how things turned out. I was kinda scared from my form 15 I took! lol. I guessed from seeing that score that my true score was probably 235 plus or minus 5, but hey it seems I was wrong.

To me, the actual test was just like sim 2.

Step 1 this Friday.

6 weeks out - CBSE 230
3 weeks out - Form 17 238
2 weeks out - UWorld sim 1 247
1.5 weeks out form 15 - 232
EDIT: 2 days out - UWorld sim 2 254

UWorld %correct (cold, full random 40's) 62%

Goal score: 230+
Reach score 240
Happy with anything above 230 but a 235 would be tight and 240 would be sick

Wish me luck brevs

 

[pbrocks15]

Quoting myself here to give peeps an idea of my progression. My REACH score was 240 so I feel freaking pumped with this 245. LOL feels so good can’t wait to enjoy a big fat maduro cigar tonight and some scotch.

The step 1 itself for me was FULL of gimmies. Like literally so many gimmie question where you either know what they are saying within 10-15 seconds or you are going to sit there perplexed. This should be a relief to some here worried about what the actual test was like. My experience is that if you have MASTERED the basics then you will do really well, and anything beyond that will be what differentiates higher and higher scores.

So overall very pleased with how things turned out. I was kinda scared from my form 15 I took! lol. I guessed from seeing that score that my true score was probably 235 plus or minus 5, but hey it seems I was wrong.

To me, the actual test was just like sim 2.

Could you do a little write up of your experience with dedicated?

Congrats on the awesome score and beating your own goals!!

 

[Foot Fetish]

Just to clarify, did you get through all of Zanki during the summer? If so, did you keep doing reviews (specific to each block or with all cards) as you started m2?

No. I can pretty confidently say that getting through all of Zanki in 2 months while doing full-time research is impossible. I had to keep doing new cards throughout the first term of M2, and I finally finished the whole deck around New Years. But bear in mind, I was adding new cards the whole time. The original deck was like ~20,000 cards, and I added about ~9,000 new ones and counting. I still try to keep up with the reviews every day (usually ~500/day).

 

[sharkbyte]

I just talked to one of my best friends from college and he has 10 weeks of dedicated starting around now. How are schools able to give that much time for dedicated??? 😕 I feel like with a dedicated that long you almost have to NOT work so hard each day so that you avoid burnout or else you might as well just move your test up a few weeks. I have 5 weeks of dedicated starting this Friday and I'm actually glad that I've been preparing little by little each day since February/March.

 

[Lannister]

I just talked to one of my best friends from college and he has 10 weeks of dedicated starting around now. How are schools able to give that much time for dedicated??? 😕 I feel like with a dedicated that long you almost have to NOT work so hard each day so that you avoid burnout or else you might as well just move your test up a few weeks. I have 5 weeks of dedicated starting this Friday and I'm actually glad that I've been preparing little by little each day since February/March.

I wonder if there's any data that shows the relationship between step score and amount of dedicated? Everyone I've talked to said they feel like they peaked around 5 weeks and anything more was unnecessary.

 

[sharkbyte]

I wonder if there's any data that shows the relationship between step score and amount of dedicated? Everyone I've talked to said they feel like they peaked around 5 weeks and anything more was unnecessary.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. I've seen so many people on here talk about how by week 4-6ish they were really starting to hit a wall, which totally makes sense and is something I believe I'll experience too.

When I took my CBSE about a month ago (9 weeks out) I remember thinking to myself, I'll just study super hard 100% for Step during our 4 week review block and then do another 5 weeks of really hard prep during dedicated. But it's much easier said than done. I still did mostly Step stuff the last 4 weeks but things like exams, research papers, clinical classes, class registration, etc all get in the way and take up time. That's why now I've kind of transitioned my mindset and I think everything pre-dedicated should be considered a "bonus". Like, the last several days I've felt a bit unproductive when I think about what all I could have done or how distracted I got, but by the time dedicated starts on Friday I would have done ~1800 Rx questions with pretty solid review of most of those questions, ~700 UW questions with thorough review, a bunch of Anki cards for stuff I've gotten wrong, as well as a full pass of Sketchy Micro and scattered Boards and Beyond videos/Pathoma/FA on random subjects. So hopefully dedicated becomes a bit easier after all that. I'm honestly just dying to get this last dumb class exam out of the way Friday so I can focus on Step.

 

[Foot Fetish]

Can any recent test-takers comment on whether or not UFAP is enough to answer the microbiology questions on the real thing? I've read some recent reports of bugs that aren't covered in UFAP, but it's unclear whether getting the answer right depended on knowing those obscure bugs or whether they were just distractor choices...

Also, did you have any Step 2 style "next step" questions? I heard those have been appearing too.

 

[Lannister]

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. I've seen so many people on here talk about how by week 4-6ish they were really starting to hit a wall, which totally makes sense and is something I believe I'll experience too.

When I took my CBSE about a month ago (9 weeks out) I remember thinking to myself, I'll just study super hard 100% for Step during our 4 week review block and then do another 5 weeks of really hard prep during dedicated. But it's much easier said than done. I still did mostly Step stuff the last 4 weeks but things like exams, research papers, clinical classes, class registration, etc all get in the way and take up time. That's why now I've kind of transitioned my mindset and I think everything pre-dedicated should be considered a "bonus". Like, the last several days I've felt a bit unproductive when I think about what all I could have done or how distracted I got, but by the time dedicated starts on Friday I would have done ~1800 Rx questions with pretty solid review of most of those questions, ~700 UW questions with thorough review, a bunch of Anki cards for stuff I've gotten wrong, as well as a full pass of Sketchy Micro and scattered Boards and Beyond videos/Pathoma/FA on random subjects. So hopefully dedicated becomes a bit easier after all that. I'm honestly just dying to get this last dumb class exam out of the way Friday so I can focus on Step.

Someone also gave me the advice to think of everything you do before dedicated as a "bonus", and thinking of it that way has definitely made me less stressed. Like everyone else is always freaking out about how they only did 20 questions yesterday so they're 60 questions behind, but I think it's better to think of it as being 20 questions ahead, because that's 20 questions you don't have to do during dedicated.

I start dedicated on Tuesday (why they felt it was necessary to have our end of block exam on a Monday and not this Friday, I will never know) and I'm also struggling to find a balance between studying hard for step and not burning myself out before dedicated even starts.

 

[sharkbyte]

It seems like a lot of people I know are doing UW on tutor mode. I have done all questions for Rx and UW from the beginning on timed, random. Am I missing anything from not doing it on tutor mode?

 

[NotYou20]

It seems like a lot of people I know are doing UW on tutor mode. I have done all questions for Rx and UW from the beginning on timed, random. Am I missing anything from not doing it on tutor mode?

Most people at my school do this too. I don't get it. Seems like it would be hard to get in a grove and hard to remember explanations

 

[ThrowawayScalpel]

Used this thread when I was preparing, wanted to give back some data

Took test in Q1 2018
Top US MD school
Took test after clinical year
7 weeks dedicated

Used UWorld 2.5x (usually blocks of 10 or 20), Pathoma (~80-85% watched), FA (read 80-90%), Sketchy Micro (watched 80% of bacteria, probably about 35-40% of viruses/parasites/fungi)
Did not use any board prep materials (UWorld, FA, Pathoma, Sketchy) or otherwise study for boards until beginning dedicated

(t-8 weeks) CBSSA 17: 175 (baseline at end of clinical year prior to dedicated, no studying)
(t-4 weeks) CBSS 13: 198 (<50% of UWorld done)
(t-2.5 weeks) CBSSA 16: 219
(t-1.5 weeks) CBSSA 15: 242 (90% of UWorld done)
(t-0.5 weeks) CBSSA 18: 225
(t-0.5 weeks) UWSA1: 251
(t-0.25 weeks) CBSSA 19 236
(t-0.25 weeks) UWSA2: 247

UWorld First Pass Average (done in system blocks): 79%
UWorld Total Average (2.5x pass, random with emphasis on incorrects after first pass, total of ~6000 questions completed): 88%

Real deal Step 1: 245-250

 

[Dr. Death]

Quoting myself here to give peeps an idea of my progression. My REACH score was 240 so I feel freaking pumped with this 245. LOL feels so good can’t wait to enjoy a big fat maduro cigar tonight and some scotch.

The step 1 itself for me was FULL of gimmies. Like literally so many gimmie question where you either know what they are saying within 10-15 seconds or you are going to sit there perplexed. This should be a relief to some here worried about what the actual test was like. My experience is that if you have MASTERED the basics then you will do really well, and anything beyond that will be what differentiates higher and higher scores.

So overall very pleased with how things turned out. I was kinda scared from my form 15 I took! lol. I guessed from seeing that score that my true score was probably 235 plus or minus 5, but hey it seems I was wrong.

To me, the actual test was just like sim 2.

Congrats on the score, I wish I was you right now. To what would you attribute the discrepancy between your UWorld 1st pass to your actual score? Did you use UWorld very early on in your test prep or did you feel like UWorld wasn't a good representation of the exam in general?

 

[TravelingGentile]

Now I'm freaking out.. just took 19 and got a 236. Previously I had the following:

NBME 16: 223
NBME 13: 232
NBME 15: 248
UWSA1: 264

Any insight? My exam is on monday.... 0_0

 

[smylee05]

So I got my score today and just wanna share my experience because I obsessively looked over these myself and hope to ease at least one person's mind.
My scores:
4.5 months out (11/22) NBME 13 - 186
3 months out (1/17) CBSE - 235
2 months out (2/10) UWSA1 - 243 (knew this over predicted but was happy with it)
6 weeks out (3/1) NBME 19 - 240 (was very happy about this score, think I got overly cocky)
5 weeks out (3/6) NBME 15 - 232 (started freaking out)
4 weeks out (3/14) NBME 16 - 225 (full on panic attack mode)
3 weeks out (3/24) NBME 17 - 248 (kinda changed up my study methods before this, less focus on small details in UWorld more B&B/review)
2 weeks out (3/29) NBME 18 - 252
1 week out (4/4) UWSA2 - 256
UWorld first and only pass - 75% correct (blog spot correlation of 257, surprisingly closest to real deal)
Kaplan (completed late M1 and during M2) - ~63%
USMLE Rx (completed 85% throughout M2) - 72%
Real deal (4/14) - 258!!!!

Was honestly shocked when I opened my score today. During and after the test I was a complete mess and was sure I did not know anything. I marked a minimum of 13 questions and max of 22 per block. I got in my car after my test and cried because I thought I failed. Please trust your practice scores and do not look up questions afterwards. The wait was the longest period of my life, worse than actually studying.

In terms of preparing: I finished Kaplan and most of Rx throughout M2. I relied heavily on Rx videos throughout M2 to help with classes. I cannot recommend Boards and Beyond enough, love love love Dr. Ryan. I would honestly say this was my #1 resource during dedicated. Obviously I still did UWorld and learned from it, but once I stopped trying to focus on every single detail in UWorld and spent more time watching/digesting the B&B videos my practice scores improved and I felt like I was learning more. I tried Anki multiple different times but it didn't work for me. I think the best thing you can do is focus on a learning style that works well for you even if it doesn't align with what you hear/read others do.

 

[510586]

So I got my score today and just wanna share my experience because I obsessively looked over these myself and hope to ease at least one person's mind.
My scores:
4.5 months out (11/22) NBME 13 - 186
3 months out (1/17) CBSE - 235
2 months out (2/10) UWSA1 - 243 (knew this over predicted but was happy with it)
6 weeks out (3/1) NBME 19 - 240 (was very happy about this score, think I got overly cocky)
5 weeks out (3/6) NBME 15 - 232 (started freaking out)
4 weeks out (3/14) NBME 16 - 225 (full on panic attack mode)
3 weeks out (3/24) NBME 17 - 248 (kinda changed up my study methods before this, less focus on small details in UWorld more B&B/review)
2 weeks out (3/29) NBME 18 - 252
1 week out (4/4) UWSA2 - 256
UWorld first and only pass - 75% correct (blog spot correlation of 257, surprisingly closest to real deal)
Kaplan (completed late M1 and during M2) - ~63%
USMLE Rx (completed 85% throughout M2) - 72%
Real deal (4/14) - 258!!!!

Was honestly shocked when I opened my score today. During and after the test I was a complete mess and was sure I did not know anything. I marked a minimum of 13 questions and max of 22 per block. I got in my car after my test and cried because I thought I failed. Please trust your practice scores and do not look up questions afterwards. The wait was the longest period of my life, worse than actually studying.

In terms of preparing: I finished Kaplan and most of Rx throughout M2. I relied heavily on Rx videos throughout M2 to help with classes. I cannot recommend Boards and Beyond enough, love love love Dr. Ryan. I would honestly say this was my #1 resource during dedicated. Obviously I still did UWorld and learned from it, but once I stopped trying to focus on every single detail in UWorld and spent more time watching/digesting the B&B videos my practice scores improved and I felt like I was learning more. I tried Anki multiple different times but it didn't work for me. I think the best thing you can do is focus on a learning style that works well for you even if it doesn't align with what you hear/read others do.

Congrats! I had a question about B and B. I tried writing down everything he says b/c I can't tell whats high or low yield, but it takes a terribly large amount of time (like. 3 times the time of a video to finish that process). How did you know what to focus on, and how did you approach the vids? Got a few months of the subscription left and about 1-2 months of time to hit them, along with zanki and sketchy.

 

[smylee05]

Congrats! I had a question about B and B. I tried writing down everything he says b/c I can't tell whats high or low yield, but it takes a terribly large amount of time (like. 3 times the time of a video to finish that process). How did you know what to focus on, and how did you approach the vids? Got a few months of the subscription left and about 1-2 months of time to hit them, along with zanki and sketchy.

Thank you! I actually didn't take notes during the videos. I've always felt taking notes distracts from really listening to what is being lectured on. I took few notes throughout M1/M2 courses but almost always went to class and actively listened to what was being discussed. I approached B&B similarly but always watched them at 2x speed. I'd watch them a couple times if I felt like I wasn't getting it. Hope that helps!

 

[mistafab]

Tutor mode is freaking excellent. If you have no problem with time management ever in exams, then there is no need to do timed. Tutor mode allows you to learn from a question at the max RIGHT when you submit your answer - facilitating storage and later retreival. You KNOW if you are burnt out and not paying attention.

Full timed randoms all the time means that sometimes you’ll get to question 30 and you will barely pay attention to the explanations because you’ve just read 30 pages worth of info right before that. No way is that more effective.

It seems like a lot of people I know are doing UW on tutor mode. I have done all questions for Rx and UW from the beginning on timed, random. Am I missing anything from not doing it on tutor mode?

Most people at my school do this too. I don't get it. Seems like it would be hard to get in a grove and hard to remember explanations

Since uworld is such a huge learning tool, getting a question wrong does NOT indicate that you will miss a question on the actual step regarding that same content. Literally you could get any percent correct, but the point of uworld is to learn when you make mistakes so you can solidify the basics and understand m1-m2 info outright. That is probably the biggest reason for the discrepancy. I made sure to learn every little droplet of knowledge from every question every single time I was doing a question (further facilitated with tutor mode, where you can sense if you are really paying attention).

Congrats on the score, I wish I was you right now. To what would you attribute the discrepancy between your UWorld 1st pass to your actual score? Did you use UWorld very early on in your test prep or did you feel like UWorld wasn't a good representation of the exam in general?

 

[Gelir]

Actual Score: 262
UW first pass: 83%
uwsa 1: 262 (6 weeks out)
NBME 17: 257 (1 week out)
NBME 18: 257 (5 days)
CBSE: 93/257.5? (3 days)
Uwsa 2: 269 (2 days)

Briefly put, I built an Anki deck starting on day 1. Reviewed everyday. Ultimate deck was >20,000 cards but average time per day was about 75 minutes. Used pathoma and boards and beyond. Boards and beyond is the best in my opinion due to its depth and breadth. Never opened first aid. Used Kaplan during organ systems for questions. Retention is king.

 

[ERDOC555]

I took nbme 13 at the beginning of dedicated and thought the questions were relatively easy/buzzword heavy compared to UW. planning on taking 15 next but i was wondering if I should take a later nbme (18/19) instead to orient myself since people say those are more representative of the real exam. i dont want to go through dedicated and focus on the wrong material/depth. do the later nbmes focus on different material or are they just not buzzword heavy?

I'm also curious to know this.

Thoughts?

 

[sharkbyte]

Tutor mode is freaking excellent. If you have no problem with time management ever in exams, then there is no need to do timed. Tutor mode allows you to learn from a question at the max RIGHT when you submit your answer - facilitating storage and later retreival. You KNOW if you are burnt out and not paying attention.

Full timed randoms all the time means that sometimes you’ll get to question 30 and you will barely pay attention to the explanations because you’ve just read 30 pages worth of info right before that. No way is that more effective.

Hmm, never thought of it that way. On second thought there are times when I get kinda exhausted going through an answer explanation around question 25 or question 30, but I usually leave the remainder for the next day. might actually start doing tumor mode moving forward.

 

[Nephronlearner]

I'm also curious to know this.

Thoughts?

It seems to vary quite a lot between tests. Some people reported no similarity, while I felt 18 and 19 did resemble the real test. The major difference between the real test and any practice tests I have seen is the existence of some truly spectacularly ridiculous questions on the real test that are probably only meant to test your mental strength to laugh them off.
That being said, I felt questions on the real test were very random and many topics were unbelievably underrepresented compared to others.

 

[Lannister]

So what exactly is this Boards and Beyond thing that everyone seems to love so much? I see it mentioned on SDN all the time but I don't know anyone at my school who uses it, as far as I know. Would it be something worth investing in at this point (step date is 35 days away)?

 

[ERDOC555]

So what exactly is this Boards and Beyond thing that everyone seems to love so much? I see it mentioned on SDN all the time but I don't know anyone at my school who uses it, as far as I know. Would it be something worth investing in at this point (step date is 35 days away)?

I really like Boards and Beyond. Its one of the best video series covering first aid, but I would highly recommend against it (in it's entirety) during dedicated. It's 120 hours of videos that are dense but super high quality. In addition to the relevant high yield material, there is also a lot of clinical material too that will be good for 3rd year or step 2 as well, but likely not on found on Step 1.

It's an incredible resource for MS1/MS2 to use alongside classes, However, I couldn't imaging trying to binge his videos 1-2 months before Step 1.

 

[orangetea]

I too have heard of many people using B&B but is it in addition to FA or instead of..

 

[NotYou20]

I too have heard of many people using B&B but is it in addition to FA or instead of..

I mostly use it to clear up concepts in FA. I'll end up watching about half of the videos. Its essentially short (10-20 minutes) lectures on most things in FA. each lecture covers a page or two

 

[ERDOC555]

@Foot Fetish
I remember earlier when you were mentioning that you didn't want to use Pathoma and I'm starting to think you may be onto something. Almost everything in Pathoma is covered in FA and other resources. I'm starting to question whether it's a prudent use of time considering I already made a 1st pass with classes and the vast majority of it is redundant/simple at this point in my preparation.

What did you ultimately decide to do regarding pathoma?

 

[orangetea]

I mostly use it to clear up concepts in FA. I'll end up watching about half of the videos. Its essentially short (10-20 minutes) lectures on most things in FA. each lecture covers a page or two

I watched RX videos is it similar to that or do you think it goes more in depth.. there are few concepts that I wouldn't mind freshening up on