- Joined
- Jun 4, 2016
- Messages
- 682
- Reaction score
- 1,413
I've always wanted to start one of these...So here we go! 
My stats:
M2
Test time: June 2018
Goal score: 270
My stats:
M2
Test time: June 2018
Goal score: 270
Last edited:
USMLE Official 2018 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
- Thread starter Foot Fetish
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2014
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 27
Hey guys, just a few days out now. Scores:
NBME16 244
NBME18 242
NBME19 250
UWSA 2 258
Free 120 90%
Anyone wanna guess at where I can possibly land on gameday?
NBME16 244
NBME18 242
NBME19 250
UWSA 2 258
Free 120 90%
Anyone wanna guess at where I can possibly land on gameday?
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2017
- Messages
- 72
- Reaction score
- 86
Yeah I agree with this. I didn't do any STEP prep before my dedicated, which I regret but I never took days off during second year because I needed to do better in my class work. I study way more than a lot of my classmates and I maybe do slightly above average. But I don't really consider myself to be that smart so I know that if I didn't bust ass I'd probably fail. Also, even though there is a "work hard" factor and a "you must be really really smart" factor into STEP... I think there is a cut off where its stops being intelligence and is basically, did you get lucky or get a form of stuff you just know really really well. In my opinion, a 245 is probably about where you can say that you really do truly know more stuff than the average, but after that I feel like its good test taking skills, different forms, and a little bit of luck. Hell, one guy from last year made a 269, studied really hard but also got really lucky for various reasons. A girl who studied literally just as hard and who is also top of the class got a 248. Then we have another guy who is just a genius and he "studied" for 2 weeks by scanning FA and did half of Uworld and got a 265. I killed myself during dedicated, and I'll be lucky if I make a 230.
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2015
- Messages
- 155
- Reaction score
- 213
Took step 1 on June 6th and hoping for the best. I thought my exam was similar in difficulty to the NBME exams. I’m sure I made some stupid mistakes especially towards the end of the exam as I didn’t get great sleep the night before.
2 months prior I took the CBSE and got a 232
NBME 13 (5 weeks out): 246
NBME 15 (4 weeks out): 252
NBME 16 (3 weeks out): 246
NBME 17 (2 weeks out): 248
NBME 18 (1 week out): 252
NBME 19 (2 days before): 250
UWSA1: 264 (3 weeks out)
UWSA2: 262 (1 week out)
If my NBME exams are any indication I think my score may be around a 248 or so. I would be thrilled! This wait is killing me!!
2 months prior I took the CBSE and got a 232
NBME 13 (5 weeks out): 246
NBME 15 (4 weeks out): 252
NBME 16 (3 weeks out): 246
NBME 17 (2 weeks out): 248
NBME 18 (1 week out): 252
NBME 19 (2 days before): 250
UWSA1: 264 (3 weeks out)
UWSA2: 262 (1 week out)
If my NBME exams are any indication I think my score may be around a 248 or so. I would be thrilled! This wait is killing me!!
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2018
- Messages
- 40
- Reaction score
- 100
Its hardwork + strategy more than smartness
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2016
- Messages
- 645
- Reaction score
- 930
You've shown definite improvement, so I'd predict 237, with a strong chance of 240+
Guessing 255, with a good chance of 260.
- Joined
- May 31, 2015
- Messages
- 51
- Reaction score
- 23
Hey y'all, am I screwed for Tuesday?
NBME 13: 171 (5 weeks out)
NBME 15: 211 (2.5 weeks out)
NBME 16: 203 (2 weeks out)
NBME 17: 215 (1.5 weeks out)
NBME 18: 209 (1 week out)
UWSA 1: 234 (1 week out) (I took it immediately after 18)
Free 120: 78% (5 days out)
NBME 19: 186 (3 days out)
So...my goal was to just hit 50th percentile (ish) so upper 220s but I'm honestly going to be happy if I pass. Should I be worried? I can't push my test back anymore. My scores are so hit and miss and with the standard deviation...I don't know...
NBME 13: 171 (5 weeks out)
NBME 15: 211 (2.5 weeks out)
NBME 16: 203 (2 weeks out)
NBME 17: 215 (1.5 weeks out)
NBME 18: 209 (1 week out)
UWSA 1: 234 (1 week out) (I took it immediately after 18)
Free 120: 78% (5 days out)
NBME 19: 186 (3 days out)
So...my goal was to just hit 50th percentile (ish) so upper 220s but I'm honestly going to be happy if I pass. Should I be worried? I can't push my test back anymore. My scores are so hit and miss and with the standard deviation...I don't know...
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
- Messages
- 737
- Reaction score
- 1,937
Would the people who think the test didn’t resemble uworld/nbme’s care to elaborate a bit? I feel like uworld should be out of business if that’s the case? (Nervous laughter)
I found this thread today and I take my test next week.
I found this thread today and I take my test next week.
Uworld questions are long but all informations are relevant, and they give you more than one clue to get to the right answer.Would the people who think the test didn’t resemble uworld/nbme’s care to elaborate a bit? I feel like uworld should be out of business if that’s the case? (Nervous laughter)
I found this thread today and I take my test next week.
NBME is vague but they don’t really have any distractions, questions are short. Tho with NBME I usually can narrow down to two
Step: long questions, many distractions, vague, many questions I could not even narrow to two answers.
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
- Messages
- 737
- Reaction score
- 1,937
Haha oh man that doesn’t sound pleasant. I hope my guessing game will be good that day. Thanks for the reply.
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
- Messages
- 5,411
- Reaction score
- 7,831
Would the people who think the test didn’t resemble uworld/nbme’s care to elaborate a bit? I feel like uworld should be out of business if that’s the case? (Nervous laughter)
I found this thread today and I take my test next week.
The biggest difference I noticed was that with UWorld, I could often say "well it can't be option B because the vignette includes this piece of information, which makes option B impossible". And by doing that I could often arrive at the correct answer just by ruling the other options out. I found that this wasn't often the case with the questions on the real thing, because often the incorrect options were things I had never heard of.
Don’t mean to scare you but I scored higher on NBME and I feel like I fail after step 1.
Did not think either first aid Uworld or NBME help me...
But all you can do is to try your best and pray for the best. No one can really give you definitive answer or score tbh
I only tell you how I truly feel not to scare you, but I felt good with NBME and feel like **** now...
Woah, I totally agree with you Lannister. I depend on eliminating answer choices a lot, partly when I do not know the answer or to make sure I pick out right choice 100%. With step, I did not really get to do that so make me feel insecure walking out of it lol.
Man, I feel awful about this exam. I only have 3 months before test day and I still have classes and exams for another month. Not enough time to do much Step 1 study pre-dedicated. I've barely managed to do 4 UW blocks so far and it's really hard to prepare for this exam in the middle of clerkships and prepping for shelf exams. At least I'll get 8 weeks dedicated but I still can't help feeling anxious right now.
- Joined
- May 17, 2016
- Messages
- 51
- Reaction score
- 84
Even with that name?
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
- Messages
- 737
- Reaction score
- 1,937
If it makes you feel any better we got 4.5 weeks of dedicated and had a crap load of mandatory lectures and activities during year. And I truly mean a crap load.
8 weeks is a good chunk of time!
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2018
- Messages
- 40
- Reaction score
- 100
Seriously, I took mine along with rotations. You’ll be fine.
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2014
- Messages
- 992
- Reaction score
- 507
Anyone feel like Boards and Beyond was helpful during dedicated? Considering using it to hammer home some of my weak points this final 1.5 weeks.
Took the test early May, and got my score end of May. I just finished my rotation, so I figured I'd give back to SDN because I benefited so much from reading this forum.
Final USMLE STEP 1 Score: 269
Practice tests:
First CBSE: 86 ~ 240 (10 weeks out)
NBME 13: 257 (7 weeks out)
NBME 15: 245 (6 weeks out. This was anomaly - I had to constantly stop and start because I was dealing with some research stuff at the time)
NBME 16: 255 (3 weeks out)
Second CBSE: 94 ~257
USIM 1: 275 (2.5 weeks out)
USIM 2: 264 (2 weeks out)
Third CBSE: 99 ~ 270
NBME 17: 261 (1.5 weeks out)
NBME 18: 271 (5 days out)
NBME 19: 261 (2 days out)
Final Uworld Percentage: 91% First pass
As you can tell, I was scoring very well on my practice tests, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I scored well. However, I will say that I legit felt terrible after my exam. I counted at least 8 questions that I got wrong, and I was sure that I missed more. I had plans to go out and party that night, but I ended up not cause I was so sad about my performance on that test. I stressed out for 3 weeks after my exam, but I ended scoring well and celebrated. All in all, I will emphasize what has been stated in this forum prior: TRUST YOUR NBME's.
I was a very strong preclinical student, and scored all Honors my first year, and thoroughly read first aid, B2B, Pathoma, Golgan Audio and Sketchy. However, I am honest in saying that I did not touch one single question bank prior to my dedicated period. I didn't see the point - I think I attempted to once my first semester of med school, but I ended up feeling like it was a waste. I was missing questions not because I was inept, but because I just didn't have a strong background of the material, thus I was destined to get the question wrong. I know that there's this prevailing theme of doing questions to learn, but I don't buy it. I'll give you an example:
Patient Comes in with severe back pain, and tells you that they've been noticing blood in their stool. They tell you that they they are taking a drug to control the pain. What receptor type does this drug block that is causing these symptoms?
1. Gi
2. Gs
3. Gq
4. Non-receptor tyrosine kinase.
5. Receptor tyrosine kinase
This might be an easy question to some, but it is actually testing a number of different things. First its seeing what drug most people take for pain, then its asking you to recognize that this drug causes acute gastritis, and then its asking you to figure out what receptor type its acting on (Answer is 1 btw).
Now, if you came and saw this question, having no background understanding of the material, you are expected to learn so much from one question. Try doing this for 3000 questions, you are bound to forget stuff. However, lets say you come in already knowing some baseline knowledge like "Oh NSAIDs are used for back pain" and "NSAIDs cause acute gastritis that cause blood in stool", you only really only need to learn one fact, and that is NSAIDs affect Gi.
You can see I came into my dedicated period with a 240 baseline, which is really high - this is because I already had a strong foundation and now it was time to hone my knowledge. The only q bank that I ended up using was UWORLD during my dedicated, but I can honestly say that I mastered it after my first pass. It took me close to 4 weeks. I took an effort to truly understand the pathophysiological basis of disease. I could describe most pathological processes at the physiological and cellular level and this is what Step 1 tests. The mantra that certain things are "HY" is complete BS - if you start early enough, you can take the time to learn everything and not just the HY. I never viewed things HY or not - I just viewed them as "Testable concepts". Take the time to understand things during your preclinical class, it will surely pay off. This test is all about hardwork, which I did. Oh also, I am not this natural genius by any means -- I got a 28 on my mcat.
Final USMLE STEP 1 Score: 269
Practice tests:
First CBSE: 86 ~ 240 (10 weeks out)
NBME 13: 257 (7 weeks out)
NBME 15: 245 (6 weeks out. This was anomaly - I had to constantly stop and start because I was dealing with some research stuff at the time)
NBME 16: 255 (3 weeks out)
Second CBSE: 94 ~257
USIM 1: 275 (2.5 weeks out)
USIM 2: 264 (2 weeks out)
Third CBSE: 99 ~ 270
NBME 17: 261 (1.5 weeks out)
NBME 18: 271 (5 days out)
NBME 19: 261 (2 days out)
Final Uworld Percentage: 91% First pass
As you can tell, I was scoring very well on my practice tests, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I scored well. However, I will say that I legit felt terrible after my exam. I counted at least 8 questions that I got wrong, and I was sure that I missed more. I had plans to go out and party that night, but I ended up not cause I was so sad about my performance on that test. I stressed out for 3 weeks after my exam, but I ended scoring well and celebrated. All in all, I will emphasize what has been stated in this forum prior: TRUST YOUR NBME's.
I was a very strong preclinical student, and scored all Honors my first year, and thoroughly read first aid, B2B, Pathoma, Golgan Audio and Sketchy. However, I am honest in saying that I did not touch one single question bank prior to my dedicated period. I didn't see the point - I think I attempted to once my first semester of med school, but I ended up feeling like it was a waste. I was missing questions not because I was inept, but because I just didn't have a strong background of the material, thus I was destined to get the question wrong. I know that there's this prevailing theme of doing questions to learn, but I don't buy it. I'll give you an example:
Patient Comes in with severe back pain, and tells you that they've been noticing blood in their stool. They tell you that they they are taking a drug to control the pain. What receptor type does this drug block that is causing these symptoms?
1. Gi
2. Gs
3. Gq
4. Non-receptor tyrosine kinase.
5. Receptor tyrosine kinase
This might be an easy question to some, but it is actually testing a number of different things. First its seeing what drug most people take for pain, then its asking you to recognize that this drug causes acute gastritis, and then its asking you to figure out what receptor type its acting on (Answer is 1 btw).
Now, if you came and saw this question, having no background understanding of the material, you are expected to learn so much from one question. Try doing this for 3000 questions, you are bound to forget stuff. However, lets say you come in already knowing some baseline knowledge like "Oh NSAIDs are used for back pain" and "NSAIDs cause acute gastritis that cause blood in stool", you only really only need to learn one fact, and that is NSAIDs affect Gi.
You can see I came into my dedicated period with a 240 baseline, which is really high - this is because I already had a strong foundation and now it was time to hone my knowledge. The only q bank that I ended up using was UWORLD during my dedicated, but I can honestly say that I mastered it after my first pass. It took me close to 4 weeks. I took an effort to truly understand the pathophysiological basis of disease. I could describe most pathological processes at the physiological and cellular level and this is what Step 1 tests. The mantra that certain things are "HY" is complete BS - if you start early enough, you can take the time to learn everything and not just the HY. I never viewed things HY or not - I just viewed them as "Testable concepts". Take the time to understand things during your preclinical class, it will surely pay off. This test is all about hardwork, which I did. Oh also, I am not this natural genius by any means -- I got a 28 on my mcat.
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2015
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 13
Inspiring
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2014
- Messages
- 1,982
- Reaction score
- 5,648
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2014
- Messages
- 992
- Reaction score
- 507
We talked about this about 100x on here. Definitely more than hard work is required for this test. Hard work will get you a long way, for some it'll take you the whole way but for some people who work hard they might not ever get to that level. Congrats!
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2014
- Messages
- 2,336
- Reaction score
- 4,469
Long time thread lurker, taking the real thing tomorrow. My practice scores have been all over the map, but I’m so sick of dedicated that I have reached zero-F*cks level and just want this to end.
Everyone in this thread is super helpful and it’s been reassuring, I just have a last minute question — I’ve hit 240 and 249 on UW1/UW2, but 236/234 on NBME 18/19. I took every NBME and both UW once a week through dedicated for about 6 weeks. Any ideas on what I should realistically hope to score based on this?
Everyone in this thread is super helpful and it’s been reassuring, I just have a last minute question — I’ve hit 240 and 249 on UW1/UW2, but 236/234 on NBME 18/19. I took every NBME and both UW once a week through dedicated for about 6 weeks. Any ideas on what I should realistically hope to score based on this?
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2016
- Messages
- 645
- Reaction score
- 930
I think you're good for 240+. Predicting 244.
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2014
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 27
If I'm fortunate enough to get a score above 255 I will def send a pizza over your way!
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2014
- Messages
- 2,336
- Reaction score
- 4,469
Thanks for the reassurance!
I’ll post a more detailed experience with scores once it’s all over tomorrow, provided I don’t just collapse and disintegrate after the exam.
@coldcase331 thanks for nothing, enjoy north dakota
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
- Messages
- 737
- Reaction score
- 1,937
I love love boards and beyond. Have you watched any of the videos or are you just considering getting it now?
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2014
- Messages
- 992
- Reaction score
- 507
I already watched most of it during the school year! Was considering doing it at 2x speed for a system since not much else seems to be helping :/
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2015
- Messages
- 41
- Reaction score
- 13
I haven’t heard anything and would love to move in on with my life...
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2015
- Messages
- 737
- Reaction score
- 1,937
Oh okay I totally understand. I did binge watch a lot of his stuff over the last couple weeks. I’ll find out if it pays off in 3 days when I take this thing lol. Will post an update
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2014
- Messages
- 992
- Reaction score
- 507
Hahha awesome thanks keep us posted please! I'll be specifically interested since I'm about to do the same thing lol Good luck!!!
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
- Messages
- 5,411
- Reaction score
- 7,831
usmle.org/apply/
If you don't see a button saying "print permit", that means it's disappeared. But it also disappears when your eligibility period ends.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2016
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 19
Anyone get their scores back from taking the exam early june?
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
- Messages
- 5,411
- Reaction score
- 7,831
I don't think so. I took it June 2nd and this Wednesday would have been the day I got my score if there was no delay.
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2015
- Messages
- 1,197
- Reaction score
- 1,434
Not sure how to interpret this... wondering if anyone else can chime in
NBME 15 - 211 (1.5 months before dedicated)
USWA 1 - 254 (3 weeks in)
NBME 17 - 246 (4 weeks in)
NBME 18 - 248 (5 weeks in)
USWA 2 - 251 (5 weeks in)
World 1st pass - 80%
Free 120 (taking today/tomorrow)
Taking my test this Friday. I'm wondering if its normal to not see much improvement across the practice exams? I had a plan for these last few days, but not sure if there is anything in particular I should do
NBME 15 - 211 (1.5 months before dedicated)
USWA 1 - 254 (3 weeks in)
NBME 17 - 246 (4 weeks in)
NBME 18 - 248 (5 weeks in)
USWA 2 - 251 (5 weeks in)
World 1st pass - 80%
Free 120 (taking today/tomorrow)
Taking my test this Friday. I'm wondering if its normal to not see much improvement across the practice exams? I had a plan for these last few days, but not sure if there is anything in particular I should do
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
- Messages
- 5,411
- Reaction score
- 7,831
It seems to be normal once you get into the 240-250+ range. I was the same way, my scores were good but I never really saw any meaningful improvement.
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2017
- Messages
- 33
- Reaction score
- 99
Anyone planning on keeping up with Zanki after Step 1? I feel like so much of my time has gone into maturing it that remembering it forever might be worth it
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2014
- Messages
- 242
- Reaction score
- 398
Had that thought but afterward I didn't want to see anything and be reminded of something I did wrong on the test.
Oxyhemoglobin
Full Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2018
- Messages
- 32
- Reaction score
- 7
Took practice test at prometric today and got 87% correct..
1st block 93%
2nd block 93%
3rd block 75%
Don't know how much does it correlate to real exam
1st block 93%
2nd block 93%
3rd block 75%
Don't know how much does it correlate to real exam
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2015
- Messages
- 1,197
- Reaction score
- 1,434
Did you take Step already? /if so how did you feel afterwards?
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
- Messages
- 5,411
- Reaction score
- 7,831
Took it June 2nd! I felt pretty decent walking out. It was challenging but I had no "wtf questions" that I can think of.
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2018
- Messages
- 40
- Reaction score
- 100
270+
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
- Messages
- 5,411
- Reaction score
- 7,831
Haha I legitimately have no idea if I scored a 220 or a 250. I feel like I had an easier form so for all I know the curve might be ridiculous.
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2014
- Messages
- 992
- Reaction score
- 507
Exam next Thursday. Anyone wanna throw a bone at when I should take the Free120, NBME18 and UWSA2? Would like to do those three before exam time.
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2014
- Messages
- 992
- Reaction score
- 507
Was thinking of doing like Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday? Not really planning on doing them all at this exact moment.
- Joined
- May 16, 2013
- Messages
- 1,513
- Reaction score
- 2,626
Yeah seriously I hope the curve helps those of us who had a ridiculous form.
Similar threads
