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

 

[oshanimalia]

About 5 weeks out.

Took NBME 15 online - got a 242, but took NBME 16 (week later) and scored 172/200 (*1.4=240, roughly). Is this normal to go down even after studying and going through UW? Nervous that I've hit the dreaded plateau that everyone talks about.

What is this plateau? Never saw it until you said it

Sent from my VS996 using SDN mobile

 

[bananafish94]

what's your goal score?

I used to be shooting for about a 235 but I'm currently in the "bargaining" stage of the 5 Stages of Grief so right now I'd be comfortable with a pass.

 

[Lannister]

I used to be shooting for about a 235 but I'm currently in the "bargaining" stage of the 5 Stages of Grief so right now I'd be comfortable with a pass.

I've got faith in you bro. Your study strategy looks awesome, so I'm sure you'll do really well!

 

[68PGunner]

I used to be shooting for about a 235 but I'm currently in the "bargaining" stage of the 5 Stages of Grief so right now I'd be comfortable with a pass.

What's your Uworld first pass average? There's a lot of bs out there, but the most common theme is that the chart showing your Uworld first pass average to your projected Step 1 is on point plus/minus 5-7 points. You got this. You have been putting in the work. The best thing to do is to keep grinding and let the chips fall where they may be.

 

[Rahas]

Need some advice. I'm an IMG drawing closer to my exam, and I'm paranoid of having gone through only UWorld, since a common theme I've noticed among high scorers is 2 or more Qbanks. I'm considering Kaplan vs the offline NBMEs (1-12). I can do only one. The method with Kaplan would be to read answers only of questions I'm wrong or less than 100% sure about. Note taking will be minimal, the purpose would be to practice questions and improve flawed concepts (as opposed to acquiring more rote style information).

What do you guys propose?

 

[Pepe18]

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[bananafish94]

What's your Uworld first pass average? There's a lot of bs out there, but the most common theme is that the chart showing your Uworld first pass average to your projected Step 1 is on point plus/minus 5-7 points. You got this. You have been putting in the work. The best thing to do is to keep grinding and let the chips fall where they may be.

I'm not familiar with that chart! When my first pass is done it will be about a 60% unless I dramatically improve or get worse in the next few weeks all of a sudden.

 

[Lannister]

What's your Uworld first pass average? There's a lot of bs out there, but the most common theme is that the chart showing your Uworld first pass average to your projected Step 1 is on point plus/minus 5-7 points.

I'm pretty sure I know which chart you're talking about, but it only includes Kaplan and UWorld. Do you happen to know of one that includes Rx? I know they have a formula on their website but idk how trustworthy that is vs the chart.

 

[Pepe18]

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[68PGunner]

I'm pretty sure I know which chart you're talking about, but it only includes Kaplan and UWorld. Do you happen to know of one that includes Rx? I know they have a formula on their website but idk how trustworthy that is vs the chart.

There isn’t one. But, I would subtract about 15% from USMLERX to get your projected Kaplan and Uworld. This statement is based on my personal experience last year when I was early in my board prep; I was scoring about 15% higher on my USMLERx relative to my Kaplan %.

 

[68PGunner]

I'm not familiar with that chart! When my first pass is done it will be about a 60% unless I dramatically improve or get worse in the next few weeks all of a sudden.

USMLE SCORE CORRELATION

There’s a recent member with a 60% Uworld first pass who scored a 228 Step 1 on the real thing.

 

[Lannister]

There isn’t one. But, I would subtract about 15% from USMLERX to get your projected Kaplan and Uworld. This statement is based on my personal experience last year when I was early in my board prep; I was scoring about 15% higher on my USMLERx relative to my Kaplan %.

Interesting! And really depressing haha. Here I was thinking I was doing well on Rx with a 75%, but I guess that's pretty average then. Kaplan is 79% for me but I think I mentioned earlier that I use Kaplan to study for end of block exams so that definitely overestimates for me.

 

[Pepe18]

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[Lannister]

A 75% is good. The non-UWorld qbanks aren't a great gauge anyways. All that matters is that you are learning from them. My roommate averaged in the upper 70s on Kaplan and got low 250s. As long as you understand your mistakes and learn from them, you are golden

That's true, I really need to focus on using Rx and Kaplan as a learning tool, rather than a score predictor. I can worry about predicting scores when I start using UWorld during dedicated!

 

[sahell]

I'm pretty sure I know which chart you're talking about, but it only includes Kaplan and UWorld. Do you happen to know of one that includes Rx? I know they have a formula on their website but idk how trustworthy that is vs the chart.

RX predicts my score to be 20-30 points higher than the practice NBMEs and UWorld predictions (as in I and several classmates have a predicted ~280, which is highly unlikely), so I wouldn't put much stock in their predictions. I think they start predicting 260+ once you get above 80%, when 80% right on the NBMEs is around 240 or lower

There isn’t one. But, I would subtract about 15% from USMLERX to get your projected Kaplan and Uworld. This statement is based on my personal experience last year when I was early in my board prep; I was scoring about 15% higher on my USMLERx relative to my Kaplan %.

Rx algorithm was created after taking datat from 26 people. I had a predicted 293 when I was done which went up to 298 a few days later. Their predictor is a joke tbh. Clinical review has a score predictor that takes into account NBME, Kaplan and UW, which I found to be quite accurate for me. Reddit has a score correlation but I feel they needed more data, I think they only used 200 people, which is still a lot better than the lazy Rx team.

Edit: It seems clinical review score calculator is no longer available. 404 Error.

 

[sahell]

USMLE SCORE CORRELATION

There’s a recent member with a 60% Uworld first pass who scored a 228 Step 1 on the real thing.

I'm pretty sure that's an ancient post and no longer relevant. Probably from the time NBMEs maxed out at 265. The correction for an NBME of 800 is 290 and 265 is 680. Also I think using the UW or Kaplan would overpredict extrapolating from my scores.

 

[Lannister]

Rx algorithm was created after taking datat from 26 people. I had a predicted 293 when I was done which went up to 298 a few days later. Their predictor is a joke tbh. Clinical review has a score predictor that takes into account NBME, Kaplan and UW, which I found to be quite accurate for me. Reddit has a score correlation but I feel they needed more data, I think they only used 200 people, which is still a lot better than the lazy Rx team.

Haha my Rx prediction just dropped from a 240 to a 234 because I did a "set" of 1 question and got it wrong.
But Rx also has a formula on their website that you can input your % correct and it calculates a predicted score, which is totally different from the one it automatically calculates on your cumulative analysis.

Edit: from the website: USMLE-Rx Step Qmax(%)*2.64 + 47 = USMLE Step 1 3-digit score (+/- 20 for the 95% CI)

 

[sahell]

Haha my Rx prediction just dropped from a 240 to a 234 because I did a "set" of 1 question and got it wrong.
But Rx also has a formula on their website that you can input your % correct and it calculates a predicted score, which is totally different from the one it automatically calculates on your cumulative analysis.

Edit: from the website: USMLE-Rx Step Qmax(%)*2.64 + 47 = USMLE Step 1 3-digit score (+/- 20 for the 95% CI)

My predicted is 292.5 with that formula, more than 20 points out from my actual score. Clinical review took down their score calculator so all that's left now is Reddit's graphs.

 

[wearewinebottles]

My predicted is 292.5 with that formula, more than 20 points out from my actual score. Clinical review took down their score calculator so all that's left now is Reddit's graphs.

I think those graphs are actually pretty solid - sample size for 2017 data is 400, still small but better than the 200 from 2016. For me, every single graph-based prediction was within 10 points of my actual score, with the last 4 (17, free 120, UW2, 18) all within 5 points of my actual score. UW2 was most predictive, as advertised - the graph predicted my exact score. The graphs also helped me get over a rough performance on 19, (seeing the data on how clearly it underpredicts)

USMLE SCORE CORRELATION

Also, for me, this chart^ predicted my exact score based on UW 1st pass percentage (mixed timed 40Q blocks). Just adding to the anecdotal data dump!

 

[Lannister]

Does anyone who uses RX feel like it's a bit...repetitive? I'm 730 questions in and I just feel like I'm starting to answer the same types of questions over and over again, to the point where my average on my last 130 questions has been about 10% greater than my average on the first 600 questions. Like I know the idea is obviously to improve, but I don't know, it just feels like something is off. I have all my settings right, all levels of difficulty, only unanswered questions. I'm sure I'm getting great practice on a lot of high yield stuff, but I can't help but feel that I'm missing out on a lot of other lower-yield but still important things.

I feel like I'm rambling, I should probably go to sleep (literally so tired that I just got a practice question wrong because I said meningomyelocele affects the meninges only and not the spinal cord lol).

 

[intubesteak]

Does anyone who uses RX feel like it's a bit...repetitive? I'm 730 questions in and I just feel like I'm starting to answer the same types of questions over and over again, to the point where my average on my last 130 questions has been about 10% greater than my average on the first 600 questions. Like I know the idea is obviously to improve, but I don't know, it just feels like something is off. I have all my settings right, all levels of difficulty, only unanswered questions. I'm sure I'm getting great practice on a lot of high yield stuff, but I can't help but feel that I'm missing out on a lot of other lower-yield but still important things.

I feel like I'm rambling, I should probably go to sleep (literally so tired that I just got a practice question wrong because I said meningomyelocele affects the meninges only and not the spinal cord lol).

I remember there being like 10 questions on hodgkins lymphoma..

 

[Lannister]

I remember there being like 10 questions on hodgkins lymphoma..

Yeah leukemia, lymphoma, and anemias seem to be very high yield on Rx. Which is fine with me haha, those are my best topics.

 

[bananafish94]

uworld repeats the same concepts over and over as well, just in diff ways. ive gotten asked about a certain genetic disease, my god, probably 8? times

UWorld would have me think that CF and Turner Syndrome are much more common than they actually are.

 

[Lannister]

heme- onc is actually my worst 🙁. any tips?

Honestly, I'm just lucky that I'm good at remembering which diseases are associated with which mutations. Leukemia and lymphoma are 99% memorization. Anemia in contrast is kind of like puzzle solving. I think there are a lot of ways you can approach anemia problems, I think the easiest way is to figure out if it's microcytic, normocytic, or macrocytic and then go from there. Microcytic could be anemia or thal, and those are fairly easy to distinguish (look at rdw, the patient's history, target cells, etc). Normocytic could be chronic disease or hemolytic. Macrocytic is usually B9 or B12, or those weird ones like orotic aciduria or diamond blackfan.

 

[Lannister]

UWorld would have me think that CF and Turner Syndrome are much more common than they actually are.

Today I got a question about leprosy and a question about rabies. Cuz you know those are really gonna be high yield for me during my career. Also who doesn't remember that their kid got bit by a bat?? I'm bitter about that rabies question.

 

[bananafish94]

Today I got a question about leprosy and a question about rabies. Cuz you know those are really gonna be high yield for me during my career. Also who doesn't remember that their kid got bit by a bat?? I'm bitter about that rabies question.

This actually does happen! Bats have very small teeth and you wouldn't necessarily feel it biting you. If you live in an old house they can get in and bite you in your sleep and it might not even be a noticeable wound.

But my personal favorite is "SSPE," which is characterized by behavioral changes and handwriting that gets much smaller 6-10 years after contracting Measles. Oh yeah, and it only happens to 1/10000 people who get Measles, of which there were 128 cases in the United States last year. So we can expect to see about 1 case of SSPE every 78 years.

 

[Pepe18]

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[Pepe18]

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[psycharmed]

I took my exam Feb 7th(a Wednesday), should I expect my score today (28th)? I'm freaking out and I don't think I can wait another week. The anxiety is driving me nuts. Do they send an email saying your score will come today?

 

[intubesteak]

heme- onc is actually my worst 🙁. any tips?

If you have the Robbins Qbank it is very good for heme/onc. Especially heme. Pathoma is also really good on these in particular (and I'm not a huge pathoma guy though ive been through it 1-2x at this point). What I have been doing to zone in on weaknesses is watch in pathoma or read in whatever preferred source, then do some flashcards (if you have them), then do some practice questions. When Uworld questions come up randomly if I have forgotten something or don't feel great about it go back to wherever you feel like you learned it best.

 

[Lannister]

This actually does happen! Bats have very small teeth and you wouldn't necessarily feel it biting you. If you live in an old house they can get in and bite you in your sleep and it might not even be a noticeable wound.

But my personal favorite is "SSPE," which is characterized by behavioral changes and handwriting that gets much smaller 6-10 years after contracting Measles. Oh yeah, and it only happens to 1/10000 people who get Measles, of which there were 128 cases in the United States last year. So we can expect to see about 1 case of SSPE every 78 years.

Haha I have never even heard of that! Whenever I see small handwriting I just automatically think Parkinson's.

 

[bananafish94]

Haha I have never even heard of that! Whenever I see small handwriting I just automatically think Parkinson's.

Oh God I forgot about that...*furiously annotates Pathoma*

 

[Lannister]

Sometimes when I go through practice questions when I'm in a bad mood I end up getting super pissed at the patients in the question stems. Like why did you have to go into that cave? Why did you drink the dirty stream water? Why are you purposely trying to make my life difficult? Why can't people just not get sick??

 

[Ttubule]

Hey All! Long time reader, first time poster. I took step a couple days ago (2/26) and after reading through about 9000 posts on SDN over the last day and a half I thought I’d add my own in case it’s useful to anyone later.

Background:
8 weeks of dedicated, really busted my ass the last 4weeks of it. I’ll share how I studied after I get my score (or now if anyone is interested) but i guess the relevant stuff for now is the practice tests..

•NBME 18 (4wks out) - 225 (had about 15% of UWorld done)

•NBME 17 (3wks out)- 232

•NBME 13 (2wks out)- 225 (had a mini panic attack at this point, but I think it had a lot to do with only getting like 4hrs of sleep a night for about 2wks prior)

•NBME 15 (week before)- 259 (on the night I finished UWorld)

•UWSA1 (2 days before)- 266

•UWorld% (first pass, timed)- 73%

Current/post test feelings:

Feels bad man. Lol. That test is nuts, it felt like basically the most confusing block of UWorld. To be fair, I’m a horrible judge of difficulty on tests. I’m almost always down to the wire on time with practice questions and honestly those two assessments above where I did pretty well I thought I got about 50% correct lol. But all that being said, I feel like I’m in the low 220s. I made some REALLY stupid mistakes (not that I haven’t on everything always lol) and just felt like I completely dropped the ball on this thing. It’s just so hard to gauge this exam though that if I got a 210 or a 260 (yea right lol) I wouldn’t be shocked.

Right now my only real solace is that it seems like everyone walks out thinking they failed, but I feel like I’m gonna be the first guy to drop 50 points from his last two assessments .

Anyway, sorry for the long post! I’m happy to answer any other questions about the test (within reason) or any thing else if it helps anyone! Otherwise I’ll update you all with my score next month- assuming I haven’t broken down, faked my own death, and fled to Mexico by then. Lol.

 

[Elessar]

But all that being said, I feel like I’m in the low 220s. I made some REALLY stupid mistakes (not that I haven’t on everything always lol) and just felt like I completely dropped the ball on this thing.

Lol yeah sure... I predict a 256 - come back when you get your score and we'll see who's right.

 

[CIrcleofWillis504]

Hey All! Long time reader, first time poster. I took step a couple days ago (2/26) and after reading through about 9000 posts on SDN over the last day and a half I thought I’d add my own in case it’s useful to anyone later.

Background:
8 weeks of dedicated, really busted my ass the last 4weeks of it. I’ll share how I studied after I get my score (or now if anyone is interested) but i guess the relevant stuff for now is the practice tests..

•NBME 18 (4wks out) - 225 (had about 15% of UWorld done)

•NBME 17 (3wks out)- 232

•NBME 13 (2wks out)- 225 (had a mini panic attack at this point, but I think it had a lot to do with only getting like 4hrs of sleep a night for about 2wks prior)

•NBME 15 (week before)- 259 (on the night I finished UWorld)

•UWSA1 (2 days before)- 266

•UWorld% (first pass, timed)- 73%

Current/post test feelings:

Feels bad man. Lol. That test is nuts, it felt like basically the most confusing block of UWorld. To be fair, I’m a horrible judge of difficulty on tests. I’m almost always down to the wire on time with practice questions and honestly those two assessments above where I did pretty well I thought I got about 50% correct lol. But all that being said, I feel like I’m in the low 220s. I made some REALLY stupid mistakes (not that I haven’t on everything always lol) and just felt like I completely dropped the ball on this thing. It’s just so hard to gauge this exam though that if I got a 210 or a 260 (yea right lol) I wouldn’t be shocked.

Right now my only real solace is that it seems like everyone walks out thinking they failed, but I feel like I’m gonna be the first guy to drop 50 points from his last two assessments .

Anyway, sorry for the long post! I’m happy to answer any other questions about the test (within reason) or any thing else if it helps anyone! Otherwise I’ll update you all with my score next month- assuming I haven’t broken down, faked my own death, and fled to Mexico by then. Lol.

Hey! Would love to hear about your resources and what you did pre-dedicated and during dedicated? A baseline of 225 before getting through Uworld is really good so I was wondering what you did leading up to that. Thanks for you post! Congrats on being done!!

 

[Ttubule]

Lol yeah sure... I predict a 256 - come back when you get your score and we'll see who's right.

Ah you’re far too kind. I honestly feel REALLY bad about it. The whole thing was just such a blur.. I would be ecstatic with anything over a 240 (I’m not one of these SDN Übermensch who are 270 or bust lol), which doesn’t feel realistic right now, BUT I definitely hope you’re right, haha.

 

[Ttubule]

Hey! Would love to hear about your resources and what you did pre-dedicated and during dedicated? A baseline of 225 before getting through Uworld is really good so I was wondering what you did leading up to that. Thanks for you post! Congrats on being done!!

Thanks!! It’s a weird feeling.. like I don’t think I did awesome at all but I also am just SO glad I’m done that I almost don’t care.

Anyway, to be fair I wouldn’t call 225 my baseline.. my school did the CBSE in December after our last final and I got something like a 197.

Prededicated-
My school takes it insanely early (like, our second year is 6mo) so I always felt like I needed to focus on it from day one to compensate. I used First Aid and Pathoma throughout all my blocks fairly throughly in first year, so by the end of second year I’d say I had one pretty good pass through 85% of it.
Over the summer in second year I got the Rx 360 package thing and started doing some questions and watching the videos (I thought the ‘taught’ FA really well) over the summer and that actually became my main way of studying through second year (I actually totally stopped even watching our lectures).
So when dedicated started I had like 45% of Rx done.

Dedicated:
First 3 weeks were content review. For all the FA chapters I hadn’t done Rx questions/videos for I would read the chapter in the morning, watch the videos in the afternoon and evening, then work through all the questions the next day or two.
Once I was done with that I started doing UWorld and basically that was all I did for the next 4 weeks (120q a day). I also made Anki cards from all my incorects in that and Rx and reviewed about 150 every morning, and listened to Goljan like every second I wasn’t studying.
Then the last week I rewatched all of pathoma (holy crap that’s a lot in a week) and watched some sketchy. I have BAD test anxiety so my biggest thing the last week was to try to get rested and mentally prepared.

 

[831929]

started doing some dedicated prep over break. Reviewed most recent system and started reading FA/B&B to review old ones. started out strong (70-80%) with kaplan organ specific questions but now that I am 4 systems in, keep getting crushed (50-60%). Any tips? getting sorta discouraged although I thought I was starting to understand all the old material again.

 

[CajunMedic]

So, throwing my hat into the ring. I'm in an odd situation for Step 1. If you follow the DO Student and EM forums, the story may be familiar.....

OMS-4, Didn't match AOA, decided to pull out of ACGME (only 2 ranks, numbers weren't in my favor), and took an EM track TRI. 524/545 COMLEX. Took NBME 18 2 years ago with a 193-Figured I would be good for the AOA match (WRONG! Don't believe the "you're going to match here/#1" hype). Finishing my last real rotation on Tuesday. Don't have anything else going on but graduation until my TRI starts. Decided to go ahead and take Step 1 to boost my app and maybe open a few more doors next year. Shooting for the middle of June, unless my first NBME's/UWSA's go well (doubtful) and I think I could cram Step 2 in by interview season (really doubtful between actually working, COMLEX 3 study, and inservice study).

Started Bros' anki deck to knock the cobwebs off, Light reading "USMLE Step 1 secrets", will be starting dedicated probably next week. Planning on trying UFAP and thinking about primarily studying what I'm weak on/forgotten based on NBME/UWSA results to best utilize my time.

 

[javksmith93]

So, throwing my hat into the ring. I'm in an odd situation for Step 1. If you follow the DO Student and EM forums, the story may be familiar.....

OMS-4, Didn't match AOA, decided to pull out of ACGME (only 2 ranks, numbers weren't in my favor), and took an EM track TRI. 524/545 COMLEX. Took NBME 18 2 years ago with a 193-Figured I would be good for the AOA match (WRONG! Don't believe the "you're going to match here/#1" hype). Finishing my last real rotation on Tuesday. Don't have anything else going on but graduation until my TRI starts. Decided to go ahead and take Step 1 to boost my app and maybe open a few more doors next year. Shooting for the middle of June, unless my first NBME's/UWSA's go well (doubtful) and I think I could cram Step 2 in by interview season (really doubtful between actually working, COMLEX 3 study, and inservice study).

Started Bros' anki deck to knock the cobwebs off, Light reading "USMLE Step 1 secrets", will be starting dedicated probably next week. Planning on trying UFAP and thinking about primarily studying what I'm weak on/forgotten based on NBME/UWSA results to best utilize my time.

bros is shorter but there is a newer Deck Zanki which has worked out well for me but it is much longer (20,000 cards), (just giving a heads up in case you didn't hear about it)

 

[USMLE_Pro]

started doing some dedicated prep over break. Reviewed most recent system and started reading FA/B&B to review old ones. started out strong (70-80%) with kaplan organ specific questions but now that I am 4 systems in, keep getting crushed (50-60%). Any tips? getting sorta discouraged although I thought I was starting to understand all the old material again.

Don’t do it by organ system, you’re training yourself to rely on context cues that won’t be there on test day!

 

[831929]

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[CIrcleofWillis504]

12 weeks until the big dance. I feel like I do not remember much from my first 2 years. Is Boards and Beyond + UFAPS doable in 12 weeks? Also, is 215+ possible within these 12 weeks? Thank you!!!

 

[831929]

12 weeks until the big dance. I feel like I do not remember much from my first 2 years. Is Boards and Beyond + UFAPS doable in 12 weeks? Also, is 215+ possible within these 12 weeks? Thank you!!!

I think it is definitely doable in 12 weeks. I did some dedicated studying over break and got through 3 organ systems while watching B&B plus sketchy. That was just a week.

 

[Ttubule]

Don’t do it by organ system, you’re training yourself to rely on context cues that won’t be there on test day!

I wholeheartedly agree with this when it comes to dedicated and doing UWorld, but if you’re pre dedicated and using a different Qbank (I thought he was just doing some studying during break) I think it’s totally reasonable to do it by organ system as a content review along side FA.

I know for me I wanted to have as good of a handle on things as possible before I started with UWorld so that I could use it more to fill in gaps and help my reasoning skills since it’s so much higher yield.

Also to anonymousdoc- I wouldn’t sweat the percentages, esp on Kaplan, just make sure you’re learning from the questions.

 

[James Bottomtooth III]

Hey everyone. Been reading this for a while and decided to jump in. Take step on Tuesday 3/6. Just took my last NBME and am feeling pretty nervous right now. I was really hoping to score 255+, but today was sort of a let down. I was originally going to take my test on 3/1, but the flu really messed me up.

Here are my current stats:

CBSE back in late December: ~197 (school mandated)
NBME 15: 232 (4-weeks into dedicated-5 weeks out ~ 25% of UW done)
UWSA1: 266 (4 weeks out)
NBME 13: 250 (3.5 weeks out)
Got the Flu day before NBME 13; took roughly 1 week to get over it (had to take about 2 days off completely and felt like **** for the remainder)
UWSA2: 254 (2 weeks out- should have taken this last; just gotten over flu and was sort of out of )
NBME 16: 259 (1.5 weeks out)
NBME 17: 257 (1 week out; couple of REALLY dumb mistakes)
NBME 19: 248 (6 days out; knew I was going to do poorly based on what everyone said, and I think that threw me off even more than it should have)
NBME 18: 250 (idk what happened here. I just really hated this one.)

I guess I still have a good shot to hit 255+, but I really did not like NBME 18, and that was sort of a confidence killer.

 

[831929]

I wholeheartedly agree with this when it comes to dedicated and doing UWorld, but if you’re pre dedicated and using a different Qbank (I thought he was just doing some studying during break) I think it’s totally reasonable to do it by organ system as a content review along side FA.

I know for me I wanted to have as good of a handle on things as possible before I started with UWorld so that I could use it more to fill in gaps and help my reasoning skills since it’s so much higher yield.

Also to anonymousdoc- I wouldn’t sweat the percentages, esp on Kaplan, just make sure you’re learning from the questions.

Thanks! Yeah i understand that random is best especially with UW. I was going to save it for dedicated and do random blocks. For now since I wanted to focus on a few organ systems over spring break I thought doing it by systems was better. I see how it can make the questions easier sometimes though since in a few I could clearly tell what they wanted as an answer based solely on that fact that I was selecting a few specific organ systems.

 

[Ttubule]

245 on CBSE at end of M2, about to go into dedicated. Trying to gauge how prepped I really am. What NBMEs should I start with?

I wouldn’t rest on my laurels or anything, but you’re starting in a damn good spot.
I’m not sure there’s a wrong answer to the NBMEs. 19 seems to way underpredict (didn’t take it but that’s been the consensus) so maybe that if you feel like you need to get ‘humbled’ or scared into studying harder, or if you don’t feel like that’s an issue for you maybe start with one of the UWSA’s. For me the real thing felt a lot more like UWorld (the CBSE had like zero long stems I thought) so I’d probably start there if it was me. A few pages back someone posted Reddit data from last year that seemed to conclude that UWSA2 was the most accurate predictor (though I’m skeptical of how to take any of that since doing it 4wks our vs 2 days would really skew things).

Whatever you go with- congrats on the strong starting point! Be sure to keep everyone updated on how it all pans out 🙂

 

[oshanimalia]

I wouldn’t rest on my laurels or anything, but you’re starting in a damn good spot.
I’m not sure there’s a wrong answer to the NBMEs. 19 seems to way over predict (didn’t take it but that’s been the consensus) so maybe that if you feel like you need to get ‘humbled’ or scared into studying harder, or if you don’t feel like that’s an issue for you maybe start with one of the UWSA’s. For me the real thing felt a lot more like UWorld (the CBSE had like zero long stems I thought) so I’d probably start there if it was me. A few pages back someone posted Reddit data from last year that seemed to conclude that UWSA2 was the most accurate predictor (though I’m skeptical of how to take any of that since doing it 4wks our vs 2 days would really skew things).

Whatever you go with- congrats on the strong starting point! Be sure to keep everyone updated on how it all pans out 🙂

The consensus was that it under predicted ya dingud

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