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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[Zora98]

Took the exam May 12, still no score. I’m just waiting until July 11 at this point lol

 

[AlexPol]

Just finished UWSA 2. Got 249
My score so far
Uwsa1 1 243 ( as my first assessment )
Nbme 16 240
Nbme 17 240
Nbme 19 240
Free 120 87%
Uwsa 2 249..
Where do I stand ?
Exam in 10 days..
Not happy with today's score was expecting 250 above

I know one thing, just after exam you will be happy to get 230

 

[tetanitoxin]

Hey guys, I take Step 1 Monday. Scores have been pretty consistent, but I've only taken 4 practice test (and only 3 that were for step 1).
UWSA1: 251
UWSA2: 245
COMSAE E: 657
NBME 18: 246
Do you think it's worth it at this point to take another NBME and if so which one? Also any ideas on what range I'm probably likely to score in? Not gunning for anything competitive and would be thrilled with 240+, hoping all my practice scores aren't lucky flukes. Feel like I guess on way too many questions.

 

[MerYangBey]

Took it yesterday. It definitely felt like longer versions of uworld questions. Some questions were very straight forward/easy. Some were stuff that I had to make educated guesses on and some stuff I had never seen before (not many maybe 3-4 questions). But most EVERY question was a solid paragraph. It would be very easy to start running short on time if you’re not keeping track.

I only took two of the nbme’s- I felt like taking more wouldn’t really do anything for me but If I could change one thing it would be to take the rest of them and make sure I truly look over any concept I got wrong. And I mean concept not so much memorize a fact- the concept is likely to come up again in a different way.

(If I do decent on it I’ll write up what I did, my practice scores and what not. Since I did find that helpful from other people.)

-hoping for good scores for everyone here (me included)

 

[QueenJames]

Took it yesterday. It definitely felt like longer versions of uworld questions. Some questions were very straight forward/easy. Some were stuff that I had to make educated guesses on and some stuff I had never seen before (not many maybe 3-4 questions). But most EVERY question was a solid paragraph. It would be very easy to start running short on time if you’re not keeping track.

I only took two of the nbme’s- I felt like taking more wouldn’t really do anything for me but If I could change one thing it would be to take the rest of them and make sure I truly look over any concept I got wrong. And I mean concept not so much memorize a fact- the concept is likely to come up again in a different way.

(If I do decent on it I’ll write up what I did, my practice scores and what not. Since I did find that helpful from other people.)

-hoping for good scores for everyone here (me included)

Did you take any of the UWSAs? Curious to know your thoughts on how the actual test compared to the UWSAs.

 

[MerYangBey]

Did you take any of the UWSAs? Curious to know your thoughts on how the actual test compared to the UWSAs.

I took both. I feel like the questions are very similar in style just with 3-4 extra sentences thrown in. I felt like some questions were more vague in the background that they gave. Don’t expect someone to get histoplasma after exploring caves or rolling in bat droppings. But again not every question is vague. But with some I felt like they tried really hard to keep them vague.

Also... I would definitely read through the ethics examples in first aid the night before the test as a refresher.

 

[Oxyhemoglobin]

Took it yesterday. It definitely felt like longer versions of uworld questions. Some questions were very straight forward/easy. Some were stuff that I had to make educated guesses on and some stuff I had never seen before (not many maybe 3-4 questions). But most EVERY question was a solid paragraph. It would be very easy to start running short on time if you’re not keeping track.

I only took two of the nbme’s- I felt like taking more wouldn’t really do anything for me but If I could change one thing it would be to take the rest of them and make sure I truly look over any concept I got wrong. And I mean concept not so much memorize a fact- the concept is likely to come up again in a different way.

(If I do decent on it I’ll write up what I did, my practice scores and what not. Since I did find that helpful from other people.)

-hoping for good scores for everyone here (me included)

Took it yesterday. It definitely felt like longer versions of uworld questions. Some questions were very straight forward/easy. Some were stuff that I had to make educated guesses on and some stuff I had never seen before (not many maybe 3-4 questions). But most EVERY question was a solid paragraph. It would be very easy to start running short on time if you’re not keeping track.

I only took two of the nbme’s- I felt like taking more wouldn’t really do anything for me but If I could change one thing it would be to take the rest of them and make sure I truly look over any concept I got wrong. And I mean concept not so much memorize a fact- the concept is likely to come up again in a different way.

(If I do decent on it I’ll write up what I did, my practice scores and what not. Since I did find that helpful from other people.)

-hoping for good scores for everyone here (me included)

Congratulations on getting done with it.
Do we need to memorize whole FA? I'm just a week out but feels like I'm forgetting FA.. concepts are clear but getting hard time memorizing minute details. What do you suggest for the last week?

 

[MerYangBey]

Congratulations on getting done with it.
Do we need to memorize whole FA? I'm just a week out but feels like I'm forgetting FA.. concepts are clear but getting hard time memorizing minute details. What do you suggest for the last week?

Thank you!
Your question is hard to answer! My goal during the last few days was to skim through first aid especially things I haven’t really looked at in a while. It probably got me a few points here or there. I also did some Kaplan questions since I had finished uworld. I think Kaplan is rather underrated because in my opinion it has good explanations for the concept they’re testing.
But I honestly can’t answer your question with any more certainty. And I’m by no means saying you should do what I did since everyone’s experience/preparations are different.

Good luck!!

 

[Oxyhemoglobin]

Thank you!
Your question is hard to answer! My goal during the last few days was to skim through first aid especially things I haven’t really looked at in a while. It probably got me a few points here or there. I also did some Kaplan questions since I had finished uworld. I think Kaplan is rather underrated because in my opinion it has good explanations for the concept they’re testing.
But I honestly can’t answer your question with any more certainty. And I’m by no means saying you should do what I did since everyone’s experience/preparations are different.

Good luck!!

Thank you so much for your reply. Yes I did kaplan qbank and u liked it especially anatomy , ethics and pathophysiology. Planning to do wrong ones again if I get time. But have other things to do as well. Already freaking out.
All the best for your results

 

[Chepid]

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

My stats:

M2
Test time: June 2018
Goal score: 270

Hi everyone,
anybody interested in reviewing for Step 1 together, my goal is wrapping up within 2 months and go for the test.

 

[21Rush12]

It hasn’t even been a week since my test and I am already sick of waiting for scores to be released. I need to work on patience.

 

[Money Moniker]

Took it this week. I honestly have no idea whatsoever how I did. It wouldn't surprise me if I scored a 250 or a 220. Or even lower than a 220. For reference, my Uworld first pass was 75%.

A few observations:

The question spread was whack. I was asked at least 4 questions on freaking acne, but not a single question about for example glomerural diseases or the clotting cascade. Guess how many hours of my life were sunk into mastering the last two compared to acne lol. I think I got them all correct, but it was by pure POE jiu jitsu and luck. Anatomy really took a hard dump on me as well, I think I had at least 4 to 5 anatomy questions per block and they were invariably stupidly hard ones about pelvic innervation and musculature, the pharynx muscles, etc. Nothing on the upper limb or the abdominal vasculature, oh no, that would be too kind.

-barely anything on psychiatry, 2 or 3 questions max

-TONS of ethics/"what do you tell the patient" crap. Some of it was really easy, some not so easy

-A surprising number of questions which straight out asked you for "which cytokine/CYP450 isozyme etc" does X. These were actually pretty tough, they didn't ask about easy ones like TNF-A suppressing tuberculosis and so on

-Pharm and micro were really low yield on my exam. Also, I'd say I know about 90% of the drugs down cold, what showed up on the exam was primarily the 10% flotsam and jetsom I didn't know. Funnily enough, I think I was still able to answer most of these correctly by picking the answer choice I just wasn't familiar with, but it felt like a leap into the dark as I was doing it. As for micro, some were easy some were pretty hard. Many of my micro questions were integrated in such as way that you didn't even know if it was a micro question. Example: coal worker with a really zoomed out histological image of lung biopsy, is it fungal or pneumoconiosis? The hell if I know.
(Not a verbatim question from the exam, just illustrates the type of Q I am talking about)

But most of the questions (like 70%) were just integrated pathophys. And I mean, really, really integrated. Lots of questions revolved around electrolytes. They'd set the stage by giving you a list of lab values and a patient with a crap ton of comorbid conditions on tons of drugs and take it from there. Lots of these were pretty tough in a way I felt Uworld wasn't. In Uworld they were mostly testing individual concepts in a given question. On Step, I felt like they were trying to make you engage in judgment calls, so that even if you knew the physio and path down cold, you could still get the question wrong by making the "wrong call." That's the best way I can explain it. Definitely different from Uworld where you always got the question right if you knew the basic science and saw through the "trick" of the question. The analogous questions on Step 1 don't have a trick that you stare at for a few second and then "get" what they're going for, you have to choose between answers that each have something going for them.

Many questions were ambiguous like that, which is why I have no idea what score to expect. There was a sizeable number of easy questions that I know for a fact I got right, and a much less sizeable subset of crazy anatomy and embryology questions where I completely guessed because I knew I never learned the information needed to answer them. But a good quarter of the exam were question for which I knew the science but still felt like my answer was a judgment call. So now the waiting begins.

 

[strugglebus9118]

Took it this week. I honestly have no idea whatsoever how I did. It wouldn't surprise me if I scored a 250 or a 220. Or even lower than a 220. For reference, my Uworld first pass was 75%.

A few observations:

The question spread was whack. I was asked at least 4 questions on freaking acne, but not a single question about for example glomerural diseases or the clotting cascade. Guess how many hours of my life were sunk into mastering the last two compared to acne lol. I think I got them all correct, but it was by pure POE jiu jitsu and luck. Anatomy really took a hard dump on me as well, I think I had at least 4 to 5 anatomy questions per block and they were invariably stupidly hard ones about pelvic innervation and musculature, the pharynx muscles, etc. Nothing on the upper limb or the abdominal vasculature, oh no, that would be too kind.

-barely anything on psychiatry, 2 or 3 questions max

-TONS of ethics/"what do you tell the patient" crap. Some of it was really easy, some not so easy

-A surprising number of questions which straight out asked you for "which cytokine/CYP450 isozyme etc" does X. These were actually pretty tough, they didn't ask about easy ones like TNF-A suppressing tuberculosis and so on

-Pharm and micro were really low yield on my exam. Also, I'd say I know about 90% of the drugs down cold, what showed up on the exam was primarily the 10% flotsam and jetsom I didn't know. Funnily enough, I think I was still able to answer most of these correctly by picking the answer choice I just wasn't familiar with, but it felt like a leap into the dark as I was doing it. As for micro, some were easy some were pretty hard. Many of my micro questions were integrated in such as way that you didn't even know if it was a micro question. Example: coal worker with a really zoomed out histological image of lung biopsy, is it fungal or pneumoconiosis? The hell if I know.
(Not a verbatim question from the exam, just illustrates the type of Q I am talking about)

But most of the questions (like 70%) were just integrated pathophys. And I mean, really, really integrated. Lots of questions revolved around electrolytes. They'd set the stage by giving you a list of lab values and a patient with a crap ton of comorbid conditions on tons of drugs and take it from there. Lots of these were pretty tough in a way I felt Uworld wasn't. In Uworld they were mostly testing individual concepts in a given question. On Step, I felt like they were trying to make you engage in judgment calls, so that even if you knew the physio and path down cold, you could still get the question wrong by making the "wrong call." That's the best way I can explain it. Definitely different from Uworld where you always got the question right if you knew the basic science and saw through the "trick" of the question. The analogous questions on Step 1 don't have a trick that you stare at for a few second and then "get" what they're going for, you have to choose between answers that each have something going for them.

Many questions were ambiguous like that, which is why I have no idea what score to expect. There was a sizeable number of easy questions that I know for a fact I got right, and a much less sizeable subset of crazy anatomy and embryology questions where I completely guessed because I knew I never learned the information needed to answer them. But a good quarter of the exam were question for which I knew the science but still felt like my answer was a judgment call. So now the waiting begins.

Wow did we take the exact same test???? Lol i got the exact same question spread

 

[MrSalabertian]

Yea Money Moniker, I took the exam on Monday, and your post just gave me a horrible flashback. Sounds all too familiar, it was pretty terrible.

 

[BurnedOut]

Took it this week. I honestly have no idea whatsoever how I did. It wouldn't surprise me if I scored a 250 or a 220. Or even lower than a 220. For reference, my Uworld first pass was 75%.

A few observations:

The question spread was whack. I was asked at least 4 questions on freaking acne, but not a single question about for example glomerural diseases or the clotting cascade. Guess how many hours of my life were sunk into mastering the last two compared to acne lol. I think I got them all correct, but it was by pure POE jiu jitsu and luck. Anatomy really took a hard dump on me as well, I think I had at least 4 to 5 anatomy questions per block and they were invariably stupidly hard ones about pelvic innervation and musculature, the pharynx muscles, etc. Nothing on the upper limb or the abdominal vasculature, oh no, that would be too kind.

-barely anything on psychiatry, 2 or 3 questions max

-TONS of ethics/"what do you tell the patient" crap. Some of it was really easy, some not so easy

-A surprising number of questions which straight out asked you for "which cytokine/CYP450 isozyme etc" does X. These were actually pretty tough, they didn't ask about easy ones like TNF-A suppressing tuberculosis and so on

-Pharm and micro were really low yield on my exam. Also, I'd say I know about 90% of the drugs down cold, what showed up on the exam was primarily the 10% flotsam and jetsom I didn't know. Funnily enough, I think I was still able to answer most of these correctly by picking the answer choice I just wasn't familiar with, but it felt like a leap into the dark as I was doing it. As for micro, some were easy some were pretty hard. Many of my micro questions were integrated in such as way that you didn't even know if it was a micro question. Example: coal worker with a really zoomed out histological image of lung biopsy, is it fungal or pneumoconiosis? The hell if I know.
(Not a verbatim question from the exam, just illustrates the type of Q I am talking about)

But most of the questions (like 70%) were just integrated pathophys. And I mean, really, really integrated. Lots of questions revolved around electrolytes. They'd set the stage by giving you a list of lab values and a patient with a crap ton of comorbid conditions on tons of drugs and take it from there. Lots of these were pretty tough in a way I felt Uworld wasn't. In Uworld they were mostly testing individual concepts in a given question. On Step, I felt like they were trying to make you engage in judgment calls, so that even if you knew the physio and path down cold, you could still get the question wrong by making the "wrong call." That's the best way I can explain it. Definitely different from Uworld where you always got the question right if you knew the basic science and saw through the "trick" of the question. The analogous questions on Step 1 don't have a trick that you stare at for a few second and then "get" what they're going for, you have to choose between answers that each have something going for them.

Many questions were ambiguous like that, which is why I have no idea what score to expect. There was a sizeable number of easy questions that I know for a fact I got right, and a much less sizeable subset of crazy anatomy and embryology questions where I completely guessed because I knew I never learned the information needed to answer them. But a good quarter of the exam were question for which I knew the science but still felt like my answer was a judgment call. So now the waiting begins.

Hey. thanks for the write up.

can the anatomy that you had on the test be answered with the FA2018/UW?

 

[Step2myLou]

Took it this week. I honestly have no idea whatsoever how I did. It wouldn't surprise me if I scored a 250 or a 220. Or even lower than a 220. For reference, my Uworld first pass was 75%.

A few observations:

The question spread was whack. I was asked at least 4 questions on freaking acne, but not a single question about for example glomerural diseases or the clotting cascade. Guess how many hours of my life were sunk into mastering the last two compared to acne lol. I think I got them all correct, but it was by pure POE jiu jitsu and luck. Anatomy really took a hard dump on me as well, I think I had at least 4 to 5 anatomy questions per block and they were invariably stupidly hard ones about pelvic innervation and musculature, the pharynx muscles, etc. Nothing on the upper limb or the abdominal vasculature, oh no, that would be too kind.

-barely anything on psychiatry, 2 or 3 questions max

-TONS of ethics/"what do you tell the patient" crap. Some of it was really easy, some not so easy

-A surprising number of questions which straight out asked you for "which cytokine/CYP450 isozyme etc" does X. These were actually pretty tough, they didn't ask about easy ones like TNF-A suppressing tuberculosis and so on

-Pharm and micro were really low yield on my exam. Also, I'd say I know about 90% of the drugs down cold, what showed up on the exam was primarily the 10% flotsam and jetsom I didn't know. Funnily enough, I think I was still able to answer most of these correctly by picking the answer choice I just wasn't familiar with, but it felt like a leap into the dark as I was doing it. As for micro, some were easy some were pretty hard. Many of my micro questions were integrated in such as way that you didn't even know if it was a micro question. Example: coal worker with a really zoomed out histological image of lung biopsy, is it fungal or pneumoconiosis? The hell if I know.
(Not a verbatim question from the exam, just illustrates the type of Q I am talking about)

But most of the questions (like 70%) were just integrated pathophys. And I mean, really, really integrated. Lots of questions revolved around electrolytes. They'd set the stage by giving you a list of lab values and a patient with a crap ton of comorbid conditions on tons of drugs and take it from there. Lots of these were pretty tough in a way I felt Uworld wasn't. In Uworld they were mostly testing individual concepts in a given question. On Step, I felt like they were trying to make you engage in judgment calls, so that even if you knew the physio and path down cold, you could still get the question wrong by making the "wrong call." That's the best way I can explain it. Definitely different from Uworld where you always got the question right if you knew the basic science and saw through the "trick" of the question. The analogous questions on Step 1 don't have a trick that you stare at for a few second and then "get" what they're going for, you have to choose between answers that each have something going for them.

Many questions were ambiguous like that, which is why I have no idea what score to expect. There was a sizeable number of easy questions that I know for a fact I got right, and a much less sizeable subset of crazy anatomy and embryology questions where I completely guessed because I knew I never learned the information needed to answer them. But a good quarter of the exam were question for which I knew the science but still felt like my answer was a judgment call. So now the waiting begins.

Looking back on the test, what resources do you think is the best way to prepare for this beast of an exam?

 

[coldcase331]

Hey. thanks for the write up.

can the anatomy that you had on the test be answered with the FA2018/UW?

I truly believe the USMLE is using anatomy as a way to renormalize the curve. A lot of the anatomy I got was not covered in FA/UW, I had to flat out guess on 4-5 of them because I hadn't seen some of the stuff since my first semester of M1

 

[Lannister]

I truly believe the USMLE is using anatomy as a way to renormalize the curve. A lot of the anatomy I got was not covered in FA/UW, I had to flat out guess on 4-5 of them because I hadn't seen some of the stuff since my first semester of M1

Am I the only one who had like 3 anatomy questions?

 

[21Rush12]

Am I the only one who had like 3 anatomy questions?

Nope I had barely any also. An above poster mentioned the “judgment call” kind of question, I did have a lot of those.

 

[MerYangBey]

Am I the only one who had like 3 anatomy questions?

I only had a few but I legitimately don’t know why they picked the ones they picked. I’m still not sure where in the body the thing they asked me about was.

 

[FAdoc2020]

took step 1 yesterday (6/21). completely agree with Money Maker. It was all over the place for me and a good number of questions came from material that seemed fairly trivial or "low yield" in First Aid (after that test I don't think the words "low yield" even exist). But the test is manageable! I am kicking myself in the face for a handful of questions and I wish I had a better understanding of ethics. Overall I feel fairly confident I scored between a 200 and a 250I am sure it will turn out just fine though. Good news is its over

 

[FAdoc2020]

So I took step last week and feel like crap ever since. Feel like I second guessed myself and missed gimme questions. I’m really worried and have been upset since then. Anyone have a similar experience and have it turn out okay? I feel like whenever I have a bad test I KNOW I did bad. Do you think this will be the case?

USWA1 - 249
NBME 18 - 242
Free 120- 80%
USWA2 - 258
Uworld first pass - 78%

Just feeling really down. I thought my exam was really tough and then getting really easy questions wrong makes me feel like I might not even have gotten a 220. Just needed to vent thanks everyone

Dude, im in the same boat. I felt fairly confident with the material and was scoring pretty well on my practice exams ( USWA1/2 - 254 (both) and NBME 18 - 248) but I felt like i second guessed out of the right answer a few times and there were several questions I had no real clue how to answer. I HATE educated guesses. I think it will turn out fine though. There are also 5-10 questions per passage on the real exams that are "experimental" that have a really good chance on being thrown out.

 

[Step2myLou]

took step 1 yesterday (6/21). completely agree with Money Maker. It was all over the place for me and a good number of questions came from material that seemed fairly trivial or "low yield" in First Aid (after that test I don't think the words "low yield" even exist). But the test is manageable! I am kicking myself in the face for a handful of questions and I wish I had a better understanding of ethics. Overall I feel fairly confident I scored between a 200 and a 250I am sure it will turn out just fine though. Good news is its over

So would you say that to have FA essential memorized is important? Some people say different things so would love to hear your persepctive! Also, was UFAP enough for the exam or anything else you wish you would have done? Thank you!!

 

[Endorphins98]

Just got out and I want to die

 

[FAdoc2020]

So would you say that to have FA essential memorized is important? Some people say different things so would love to hear your persepctive! Also, was UFAP enough for the exam or anything else you wish you would have done? Thank you!!

UFAP will set you up very nicely for the exam! there were a number of questions that I was able to answer very quickly thanks to pathoma! I listened to Pathoma and annotated the book 2x a month leading up to the exam. It helped tremendously. If I could do it again, I would have probably re listened to the first 3 chapters a few days out just to stay fresh on that material. UWorld is most important I would say. Do as many questions as you possibly can and definitely read every single explanation. First Aid probably covers 90% of what you will see on the exam so yeah, Know it as much as you can. The most frustrating part of the exam is that it seemed to pick out topics in First Aid and asked them in such a way that I dont know how I could have prepared for.

 

[Diabeetuss]

I'll put my two cents in since I took the exam this past week. All in all, I thought that the exam was very tough. I had prepped for a while and had done well on my NBMEs and UWsims, but I felt like this was a different ball game. I have seen several posts that say that UFAP will get you 90-95% of the way there but for my exam and from talking with a few other classmates who took the exam, I felt like around 30% of the exam was nowhere to be found in any of those sources. Overall, I thought question stems were very comparable in length to Uworld/NBME but the actual content of the exam was much different. There were a number of questions that I had never seen and I only found the answers to in journals online. The anatomy was particularly difficult as well, I probably had 10-15 questions and maybe 1 of them was covered by FA, all of the other ones were specific from anatomy class. After the exam, I felt pretty terrible, but in all honesty, I couldn't be too irritated with myself because like I said, quite a bit of information I had just never seen.

In terms of preparation, I'm not really sure what I would do differently. I did Uworld, FA, pathoma, some sketchy, Combank, and Comquest.

If anybody has any questions I'd be happy to answer!

 

[pbrocks15]

I'll put my two cents in since I took the exam this past week. All in all, I thought that the exam was very tough. I had prepped for a while and had done well on my NBMEs and UWsims, but I felt like this was a different ball game. I have seen several posts that say that UFAP will get you 90-95% of the way there but for my exam and from talking with a few other classmates who took the exam, I felt like around 30% of the exam was nowhere to be found in any of those sources. Overall, I thought question stems were very comparable in length to Uworld/NBME but the actual content of the exam was much different. There were a number of questions that I had never seen and I only found the answers to in journals online. The anatomy was particularly difficult as well, I probably had 10-15 questions and maybe 1 of them was covered by FA, all of the other ones were specific from anatomy class. After the exam, I felt pretty terrible, but in all honesty, I couldn't be too irritated with myself because like I said, quite a bit of information I had just never seen.

In terms of preparation, I'm not really sure what I would do differently. I did Uworld, FA, pathoma, some sketchy, Combank, and Comquest.

If anybody has any questions I'd be happy to answer!

What's so different about the content? The way it was presented you mean? Just in a way that you (or anyone else) hasn't seen it presented in that manner? (similar to what @Money Moniker was getting at above?)

 

[Diabeetuss]

What's so different about the content? The way it was presented you mean? Just in a way that you (or anyone else) hasn't seen it presented in that manner? (similar to what @Money Moniker was getting at above?)

Well, some of the questions made it feel like they were for a Master's/PhD program, in that they were asking about something in FA that you probably know well, but then they would ask about some specific detail that you'd have no idea on and there was no way to think through it, you just had to know it. Other questions felt like they were written by attending's for attendings, such as "why would you use this drug over this drug?" But both of the drugs are in the same class so you don't really know. Or patient comes in for a check-up, exam is normal, then they give you labs where everything is normal then the question is something like "What's the next best step in management"..... uhhhhhh not sure haha

Also, like @Money Moniker said, the electrolyte questions were weird and would almost always throw in some random value that you didn't know was correlated with what they were asking.
And with ethics, other than maybe one or two, there was always some extra wrinkle thrown in and the generic answer of "Why do you feel that way" or something along those lines was never there haha

 

[Estranged]

I'm an IMG and I recently scored a 272 on Step 1. Someone asked for my experience so here you go.
Resources used:
1) Biochemistry: Kaplan
2) Physiology: Kaplan + Costanzo BRS
3) Anatomy: Kaplan + Road map Gross+ BRS anatomy review tests only(I'm talking about the review tests at the end of each chapter). I thought I was weak on Anatomy and that's why I used so many resources. In retrospect I think FA + UWORLD are enough
4) Microbiology/Immunology: Kaplan
5) Pharmacology: Kaplan
6) Pathology: Goljan RR + Pathoma
7) Behavioral Science: Kaplan+ 100 case by Fischer
Qbanks
1) Kaplan
2) uworld ( 87% correct): only once (mixed random timed) but really diligently+ took very good notes. Imo no need to do it twice
3) usmle rx: great to solidify FA. I used it along with Rx flashfacts
NBMEs:
15 ->252 - 3mo out
16->263 - 2 mo out
17->265 - 1 mo out
18->267 - 1 week out
Prep timeline
1) 1st round of above mentioned books + FA
2) Kaplan Qbank + FA(2ndtime)
3) 2nd round of Kaplan+ Goljan + FA (3rd time)
4) UWORLD!!!
5) Rx qbank+ flashfacts+ FA(4th time)

The exam was hard but doable. When I walked out I was confident I had achieved my initial goal (250s) but I never expected 270 + . As you can see none of by NBMEs was in the 270s. I think being calm and relaxed during the real exam made the difference.

Hard work always pays off in the end. Believe in yourself and never give up!
All the best!

@Pruthvi I hope this helps!

 

[jd989898]

Just took mine today. I'm glad I didn't study any more than I did because it wouldn't have helped lol.

 

[FAdoc2020]

Just took mine today. I'm glad I didn't study any more than I did because it wouldn't have helped lol.

haha true!!

 

[dabears405]

Reading all these comments make me think this test is impossible lol

 

[pbrocks15]

Reading all these comments make me think this test is impossible lol

Yeah me too lol honestly dont come on here the week before your test

 

[QueenJames]

I seriously would suggest y'all start looking at NCBI journals and read those.

I feel that would have helped more than reading FA.

 

[Step2myLou]

H

I'm an IMG and I recently scored a 272 on Step 1. Someone asked for my experience so here you go.
Resources used:
1) Biochemistry: Kaplan
2) Physiology: Kaplan + Costanzo BRS
3) Anatomy: Kaplan + Road map Gross+ BRS anatomy review tests only(I'm talking about the review tests at the end of each chapter). I thought I was weak on Anatomy and that's why I used so many resources. In retrospect I think FA + UWORLD are enough
4) Microbiology/Immunology: Kaplan
5) Pharmacology: Kaplan
6) Pathology: Goljan RR + Pathoma
7) Behavioral Science: Kaplan+ 100 case by Fischer
Qbanks
1) Kaplan
2) uworld ( 87% correct): only once (mixed random timed) but really diligently+ took very good notes. Imo no need to do it twice
3) usmle rx: great to solidify FA. I used it along with Rx flashfacts
NBMEs:
15 ->252 - 3mo out
16->263 - 2 mo out
17->265 - 1 mo out
18->267 - 1 week out
Prep timeline
1) 1st round of above mentioned books + FA
2) Kaplan Qbank + FA(2ndtime)
3) 2nd round of Kaplan+ Goljan + FA (3rd time)
4) UWORLD!!!
5) Rx qbank+ flashfacts+ FA(4th time)

The exam was hard but doable. When I walked out I was confident I had achieved my initial goal (250s) but I never expected 270 + . As you can see none of by NBMEs was in the 270s. I think being calm and relaxed during the real exam made the difference.

Hard work always pays off in the end. Believe in yourself and never give up!
All the best!

@Pruthvi I hope this helps!

How long was your study period and what do you think of goljan?

 

[Step2myLou]

UFAP will set you up very nicely for the exam! there were a number of questions that I was able to answer very quickly thanks to pathoma! I listened to Pathoma and annotated the book 2x a month leading up to the exam. It helped tremendously. If I could do it again, I would have probably re listened to the first 3 chapters a few days out just to stay fresh on that material. UWorld is most important I would say. Do as many questions as you possibly can and definitely read every single explanation. First Aid probably covers 90% of what you will see on the exam so yeah, Know it as much as you can. The most frustrating part of the exam is that it seemed to pick out topics in First Aid and asked them in such a way that I dont know how I could have prepared for.

Thank you for your response! I am gonna stick to UFAP and work on my weakness from there. Do you think with the difficulty of the exam that gettting a 210+ is tough while sticking solely to UFAP? I am just tryna get this test done with and move on haha

 

[FAdoc2020]

Thank you for your response! I am gonna stick to UFAP and work on my weakness from there. Do you think with the difficulty of the exam that gettting a 210+ is tough while sticking solely to UFAP? I am just tryna get this test done with and move on haha

very much so! I think you will impress yourself! I basically just stuck with those resources and I at least felt "ok" walking out of that testing center. However, I think it would be extremely helpful if you found the time to go through SketchyMedical Micro and Pharm portion. ONLY if you have time though, i dont think there is any use on adding another resource if you are a couple weeks out.

 

[pbrocks15]

I seriously would suggest y'all start looking at NCBI journals and read those.

I feel that would have helped more than reading FA.

We talking JAMA? Or more like Annals of Med?

 

[Money Moniker]

Hey. thanks for the write up.

can the anatomy that you had on the test be answered with the FA2018/UW?

I used FA 2017, and a good chunk of the anatomy questions I got were nowhere in that book. As in, the name of the muscles or nerves in the answer choices weren't even mentioned in FA, let alone in the context presented by the question. To be honest I'm not too upset about this fact because anatomy was always my weak spot and I kind of figured I'd take the L on it regardless of what showed up unless it was the really bread and butter stuff. The fact it was so esoteric just means most of my competition probably missed it as well, whereas if it was merely "slightly" hard I might have missed it and they might have gotten it lol.

 

[pbrocks15]

I used FA 2017, and a good chunk of the anatomy questions I got were nowhere in that book. As in, the name of the muscles or nerves in the answer choices weren't even mentioned in FA, let alone in the context presented by the question. To be honest I'm not too upset about this fact because anatomy was always my weak spot and I kind of figured I'd take the L on it regardless of what showed up unless it was the really bread and butter stuff. The fact it was so esoteric just means most of my competition probably missed it as well, whereas if it was merely "slightly" hard I might have missed it and they might have gotten it lol.

This is my motto for the entire exam (in bold).

 

[Pruthvi]

I'm an IMG and I recently scored a 272 on Step 1. Someone asked for my experience so here you go.
Resources used:
1) Biochemistry: Kaplan
2) Physiology: Kaplan + Costanzo BRS
3) Anatomy: Kaplan + Road map Gross+ BRS anatomy review tests only(I'm talking about the review tests at the end of each chapter). I thought I was weak on Anatomy and that's why I used so many resources. In retrospect I think FA + UWORLD are enough
4) Microbiology/Immunology: Kaplan
5) Pharmacology: Kaplan
6) Pathology: Goljan RR + Pathoma
7) Behavioral Science: Kaplan+ 100 case by Fischer
Qbanks
1) Kaplan
2) uworld ( 87% correct): only once (mixed random timed) but really diligently+ took very good notes. Imo no need to do it twice
3) usmle rx: great to solidify FA. I used it along with Rx flashfacts
NBMEs:
15 ->252 - 3mo out
16->263 - 2 mo out
17->265 - 1 mo out
18->267 - 1 week out
Prep timeline
1) 1st round of above mentioned books + FA
2) Kaplan Qbank + FA(2ndtime)
3) 2nd round of Kaplan+ Goljan + FA (3rd time)
4) UWORLD!!!
5) Rx qbank+ flashfacts+ FA(4th time)

The exam was hard but doable. When I walked out I was confident I had achieved my initial goal (250s) but I never expected 270 + . As you can see none of by NBMEs was in the 270s. I think being calm and relaxed during the real exam made the difference.

Hard work always pays off in the end. Believe in yourself and never give up!
All the best!

@Pruthvi I hope this helps!

wow thank u its of great help 2 more questions..
how was your basics before u started prep ?
how long did it take you for your prep?

 

[Giovanotto]

Took it this week. I honestly have no idea whatsoever how I did. It wouldn't surprise me if I scored a 250 or a 220. Or even lower than a 220. For reference, my Uworld first pass was 75%.

A few observations:

The question spread was whack. I was asked at least 4 questions on freaking acne, but not a single question about for example glomerural diseases or the clotting cascade. Guess how many hours of my life were sunk into mastering the last two compared to acne lol. I think I got them all correct, but it was by pure POE jiu jitsu and luck. Anatomy really took a hard dump on me as well, I think I had at least 4 to 5 anatomy questions per block and they were invariably stupidly hard ones about pelvic innervation and musculature, the pharynx muscles, etc. Nothing on the upper limb or the abdominal vasculature, oh no, that would be too kind.

-barely anything on psychiatry, 2 or 3 questions max

-TONS of ethics/"what do you tell the patient" crap. Some of it was really easy, some not so easy

-A surprising number of questions which straight out asked you for "which cytokine/CYP450 isozyme etc" does X. These were actually pretty tough, they didn't ask about easy ones like TNF-A suppressing tuberculosis and so on

-Pharm and micro were really low yield on my exam. Also, I'd say I know about 90% of the drugs down cold, what showed up on the exam was primarily the 10% flotsam and jetsom I didn't know. Funnily enough, I think I was still able to answer most of these correctly by picking the answer choice I just wasn't familiar with, but it felt like a leap into the dark as I was doing it. As for micro, some were easy some were pretty hard. Many of my micro questions were integrated in such as way that you didn't even know if it was a micro question. Example: coal worker with a really zoomed out histological image of lung biopsy, is it fungal or pneumoconiosis? The hell if I know.
(Not a verbatim question from the exam, just illustrates the type of Q I am talking about)

But most of the questions (like 70%) were just integrated pathophys. And I mean, really, really integrated. Lots of questions revolved around electrolytes. They'd set the stage by giving you a list of lab values and a patient with a crap ton of comorbid conditions on tons of drugs and take it from there. Lots of these were pretty tough in a way I felt Uworld wasn't. In Uworld they were mostly testing individual concepts in a given question. On Step, I felt like they were trying to make you engage in judgment calls, so that even if you knew the physio and path down cold, you could still get the question wrong by making the "wrong call." That's the best way I can explain it. Definitely different from Uworld where you always got the question right if you knew the basic science and saw through the "trick" of the question. The analogous questions on Step 1 don't have a trick that you stare at for a few second and then "get" what they're going for, you have to choose between answers that each have something going for them.

Many questions were ambiguous like that, which is why I have no idea what score to expect. There was a sizeable number of easy questions that I know for a fact I got right, and a much less sizeable subset of crazy anatomy and embryology questions where I completely guessed because I knew I never learned the information needed to answer them. But a good quarter of the exam were question for which I knew the science but still felt like my answer was a judgment call. So now the waiting begins.

You summed it up perfectly, I felt the same exact way.

 

[Tantalum]

Took it today, it was weird... Felt like 7 easy straight blocks of UWorld with some crazy hard questions sprinkled here and there. Fungi and Bacteria that aren't even mentioned in FA. Also, what's with the whole "what's the next best step in management". I thought I was taking step 1 not 2 lol

 

[QueenJames]

We talking JAMA? Or more like Annals of Med?

****.

Both.

Not to be fear mongerer either but that's just my opinion.

Take of it what you will.

I really think a lot of these people need to start posting their score reports because they are either A) GENIUSEs.... B) LYING through their teeth (lying on the internet?? ... nooo... can't be... lol ) or C) THEY HAVE AMAZING GUESSING CAPABILITIES.

I have NEVER used that much process or elimination on an exam ever.

The COMLEX was a JOKE compared to this beast.

 

[throwaway9999999999]

T

****.

Both.

Not to be fear mongerer either but that's just my opinion.

Take of it what you will.

This is bull****. Read FA it’ll get you a lot of points, to those who it didn’t get they didn’t know it word for word. But thats just my opinion.

 

[QueenJames]

T

This is bull****. Read FA it’ll get you a lot of points, to those who it didn’t get they didn’t know it word for word. But thats just my opinion.

Well I guess some of us must have gotten an easier or more doable pool of questions/form of the exam that made sense.

Talking to classmates pointed it out that some of us NEVER had the same question come up.

EXAMPLE... I got a question about a certain species of bacteria.

 

[Lannister]

Well I guess some of us must have gotten an easier or more doable pool of questions/form of the exam that made sense.

Talking to classmates pointed it out that some of us NEVER had the same question come up.

EXAMPLE... I got a question about a certain species of bacteria

IDK the exact rules about sharing exam questions, but this might be a little too specific?

 

[Traumahawk]

T

This is bull****. Read FA it’ll get you a lot of points, to those who it didn’t get they didn’t know it word for word. But thats just my opinion.

Well, there’s your answer: just memorize FA. So easy, anyone can score a 280.

(Please understand that I’m not making fun of you, but rather the devolution in clinical reasoning when students are told to memorize a canon of literature rather than conduct inquiry themselves. That’s what gave us the era of galenic medicine, which was still very much in academic vogue and still preaching a 1:1 concordance between porcine and human anatomy a solid 300 years after someone had the bright idea to take a knife to a cadaver and write books about what’s inside. In the modern era, this is how we get medical trainees who crush exams but utterly fail in the clinical environment, because the patient didn’t present like a UW/FA clinical vignette.)

The problem, then as now, comes when FA is out of sync with the established science, and you have to decide whether to parrot FA’s answer, which is clinically and biomechanically wrong, or the correct answer, which will flag “wrong” on an exam that is allegedly written with slavish devotion to FA. When questions like that pop on your exam, who do you believe - FA or your own lying eyes? Do you trust that the academicians who write the questions keep up with the literature? (See also: patent processus vaginalis in inguinal hernia, metformin and lactic acidosis, unopposed alpha agonism in sympathomimetic toxicity, etc. - all of which I saw in preps.)

It’s a question I don’t have a good answer for, and unlike in school, you don’t have the option to go to the USMLE folks and say “this answer should be A and not D, and here’s why.”

Oh well - clinical starts next week, and this is all an exercise in whataboutism anyway.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[throwaway9999999999]

Well, there’s your answer: just memorize FA. So easy, anyone can score a 280.

(Please understand that I’m not making fun of you, but rather the devolution in clinical reasoning when students are told to memorize a canon of literature rather than conduct inquiry themselves. That’s what gave us the era of galenic medicine, which was still very much in academic vogue and still preaching a 1:1 concordance between porcine and human anatomy a solid 300 years after someone had the bright idea to take a knife to a cadaver and write books about what’s inside. In the modern era, this is how we get medical trainees who crush exams but utterly fail in the clinical environment, because the patient didn’t present like a UW/FA clinical vignette.)

The problem, then as now, comes when FA is out of sync with the established science, and you have to decide whether to parrot FA’s answer, which is clinically and biomechanically wrong, or the correct answer, which will flag “wrong” on an exam that is allegedly written with slavish devotion to FA. When questions like that pop on your exam, who do you believe - FA or your own lying eyes? Do you trust that the academicians who write the questions keep up with the literature? (See also: patent processus vaginalis in inguinal hernia, metformin and lactic acidosis, unopposed alpha agonism in sympathomimetic toxicity, etc. - all of which I saw in preps.)

It’s a question I don’t have a good answer for, and unlike in school, you don’t have the option to go to the USMLE folks and say “this answer should be A and not D, and here’s why.”

Oh well - clinical starts next week, and this is all an exercise in whataboutism anyway.

Sure. Good for you.

 

[FAdoc2020]

Well, there’s your answer: just memorize FA. So easy, anyone can score a 280.

(Please understand that I’m not making fun of you, but rather the devolution in clinical reasoning when students are told to memorize a canon of literature rather than conduct inquiry themselves. That’s what gave us the era of galenic medicine, which was still very much in academic vogue and still preaching a 1:1 concordance between porcine and human anatomy a solid 300 years after someone had the bright idea to take a knife to a cadaver and write books about what’s inside. In the modern era, this is how we get medical trainees who crush exams but utterly fail in the clinical environment, because the patient didn’t present like a UW/FA clinical vignette.)

The problem, then as now, comes when FA is out of sync with the established science, and you have to decide whether to parrot FA’s answer, which is clinically and biomechanically wrong, or the correct answer, which will flag “wrong” on an exam that is allegedly written with slavish devotion to FA. When questions like that pop on your exam, who do you believe - FA or your own lying eyes? Do you trust that the academicians who write the questions keep up with the literature? (See also: patent processus vaginalis in inguinal hernia, metformin and lactic acidosis, unopposed alpha agonism in sympathomimetic toxicity, etc. - all of which I saw in preps.)

It’s a question I don’t have a good answer for, and unlike in school, you don’t have the option to go to the USMLE folks and say “this answer should be A and not D, and here’s why.”

Oh well - clinical starts next week, and this is all an exercise in whataboutism anyway.

This ^^. You are 100% spot on with present day medicine. One of the things I have noticed is the 3rd/4th years must retrain or redirect their learning to the more clinical and real world mindset. If they dont, they will more often then not crash and burn during rotations. Unfortunately, up until Step 1, 99% of us are trained with First Aid as the bible. That being said I am very much looking forward to clinical rotations to experience real medicine