USMLE Official 2018 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Hey guys looking for some help/tips.
Nbme19 196
NBME18 205 (under 4 weeks out)

Really frustrated with such a minimal improvement. Went through all the organ systems and half of sketchy so far. Was hoping to get 240+ but starting to really worry about even getting 230.

Slightly more than 50% done with uworld and about 69% correct.

Not sure what to do over the next few weeks to get the score up.
 
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anonymousdoctobe said:
Hey guys looking for some help/tips.
Nbme19 196
NBME18 205 (under 4 weeks out)

Really frustrated with such a minimal improvement. Went through all the organ systems and half of sketchy so far. Was hoping to get 240+ but starting to really worry about even getting 230.

Slightly more than 50% done with uworld and about 69% correct.

Not sure what to do over the next few weeks to get the score up.
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If you are doing UW in random, timed mode then your UW percentage definitely suggests a WAY higher score. NBME 18 and 19 are difficult tests in a sense that they are a bit of a mix of UW and earlier NBMEs and most people probably take them towards the end -> which is why relative to them your performance is probably worse. I would advise you to try taking UWSA1 or one of the earlier NBMEs: 13 or 15 and see how you score on those. Getting 69% in UW means that there isn't really any major gap in your knowledge. For reference, when I had done around 50% of UW, my percentage was 70-71 and my NBMEs were in 240s.
 
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orangetea said:
LOL I wish in my wildest dreams.. I mean that if an overall 85% = 250 my lousy 60% can at least help me get an average score
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Having received the score, I would actually say it may even be way lower than that, likely ~80%! (or maybe it varies based on relative test difficulty?)
 
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Nephronlearner said:
Having received the score, I would actually say it may even be way lower than that, likely ~80%! (or maybe it varies based on relative test difficulty?)
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I wish they would just tell us how they grade it because an 80% on NBME is like 210 lol so I always thought that to get a 230+ on the real deal I would have to get around 85%
 
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Nephronlearner said:
If you are doing UW in random, timed mode then your UW percentage definitely suggests a WAY higher score. NBME 18 and 19 are difficult tests in a sense that they are a bit of a mix of UW and earlier NBMEs and most people probably take them towards the end -> which is why relative to them your performance is probably worse. I would advise you to try taking UWSA1 or one of the earlier NBMEs: 13 or 15 and see how you score on those. Getting 69% in UW means that there isn't really any major gap in your knowledge. For reference, when I had done around 50% of UW, my percentage was 70-71 and my NBMEs were in 240s.
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I started out not random but for the past 25 % it has been random and my score stayed the same. I just finished reviewing the NBME and about half of the questions were misunderstandings/haven't reviewed sketchy for that yet. The rest were things I don't think I could've figured out unless I've seen a question on it before.
Do you have any recommendations on what to do for the next 3.5 weeks? Should I rewatch pathoma or do zanki?
 
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anonymousdoctobe said:
I started out not random but for the past 25 % it has been random and my score stayed the same. I just finished reviewing the NBME and about half of the questions were misunderstandings/haven't reviewed sketchy for that yet. The rest were things I don't think I could've figured out unless I've seen a question on it before.
Do you have any recommendations on what to do for the next 3.5 weeks? Should I rewatch pathoma or do zanki?
Click to expand...

I really don't want to give advice on sketchy/pathoma/zanki for Step 1 studying because I haven't really used any of that.
I gave sketchy a go for a day but found the cartoons insufferable.
I used Pathoma for my pathology module in medical school, which was 4 years ago. I only briefly reviewed some topics that I found difficult to memorise (different types of vasculitis, ovarian tumours, etc). I did not read the entire book during my dedicated study time.
I have never heard of, or used Zanki deck (besides reading about it on this thread)
What I did was - 2 blocks of UW questions a day; detailed analysis of all the explanations, while referencing FA -> and then if I had extra time (which I usually did not) - see what I found confusing in those 2 blocks and read something about elsewhere. The resources... could be anything really - from class notes and Big Robbins to Wikipedia to books not even in English language - but only for very specific topics.

An interesting fact - I NEVER made any sort of a study plan or schedule. I just kept going through UW 2 blocks per day and read whatever I thought I was weak in.

I think by far the best use of your time is to keep going through UW, using FA as a reference! More than sufficient to do well on the exam. Also, it is most certainly NOT necessary to memorise the entire FA book. I never did - hasn't been a problem on either the real test or any of the NBMEs/UWSAs.
 
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orangetea said:
I wish they would just tell us how they grade it because an 80% on NBME is like 210 lol so I always thought that to get a 230+ on the real deal I would have to get around 85%
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NBME curves are exceptionally tough and unforgiving. If I had made the same number of careless errors on any NBME as I did on the actual Step 1 I would be looking at a score in the 230s. 85% means 6 incorrects per block on average... I honestly doubt I had fewer incorrects than that... unless the stress of taking the exam has affected my perception of the questions to a far greater degree than I ever would have expected.
 
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does the sdn hive mind know if residency programs care about step 1 performance by system? I had "borderline" performance in a few pretty key organ systems :/ I feel like that would be a red flag to me if I were a residency director...
 
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ohnotornadooo said:
does the sdn hive mind know if residency programs care about step 1 performance by system? I had "borderline" performance in a few pretty key organ systems :/ I feel like that would be a red flag to me if I were a residency director...
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Very unlikely IMO. In fact I doubt they even see anything besides the 3 digit score, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Not to mention there's not really any useful information that they can glean from those random and hard to interpret bars.
 
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Yo first time posting in this thread. Wanted to share my experience before taking the dive on Friday!

First off, I got quite a bit of dedicated time to study (about 9 weeks) so keep that in mind. I'm really proud of the improvements I made over these weeks. Mainly got by with UWorld and I also shelled out for DIT since I'm terrible at organizing a study schedule. Basically studied 8 to 10 hours a day with an occasional half-day (once a week maybe).

Here are my stats.

Baseline NBME 13: 186 (10 weeks)
CBSE (School administered): 210 (9 weeks)
NBME 15: 232 (7 weeks) <--- really got excited here
NBME 16: 234 (5 weeks)
NBME 17: 252 (3 weeks)
UWSA1 and UWSA2: 260 and 254 (1 week out on the same day)

First pass UWorld completely timed random: 68% (worth mentioning I started at ~55% avg and at the end was averaging ~75%)

I'm aiming for a 240+! Good luck to everyone! I promise you can improve a lot in a seemingly short amount of time. I sit for the real thing on Friday 5/11!
 
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NecFasc92 said:
What in the world did you do between nbme 13 and 15? That is an absurd jump in 3 weeks. Teach me o wizard!
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80 - 120 Uworld questions a day and filled some crucial knowledge gaps! That's when I started hitting UWorld and DIT really hard. I had forgotten quite a bit of material unfortunately.
 
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Nephronlearner said:
I really don't want to give advice on sketchy/pathoma/zanki for Step 1 studying because I haven't really used any of that.
I gave sketchy a go for a day but found the cartoons insufferable.
I used Pathoma for my pathology module in medical school, which was 4 years ago. I only briefly reviewed some topics that I found difficult to memorise (different types of vasculitis, ovarian tumours, etc). I did not read the entire book during my dedicated study time.
I have never heard of, or used Zanki deck (besides reading about it on this thread)
What I did was - 2 blocks of UW questions a day; detailed analysis of all the explanations, while referencing FA -> and then if I had extra time (which I usually did not) - see what I found confusing in those 2 blocks and read something about elsewhere. The resources... could be anything really - from class notes and Big Robbins to Wikipedia to books not even in English language - but only for very specific topics.

An interesting fact - I NEVER made any sort of a study plan or schedule. I just kept going through UW 2 blocks per day and read whatever I thought I was weak in.

I think by far the best use of your time is to keep going through UW, using FA as a reference! More than sufficient to do well on the exam. Also, it is most certainly NOT necessary to memorise the entire FA book. I never did - hasn't been a problem on either the real test or any of the NBMEs/UWSAs.
Click to expand...

How much time did you spend reviewing each UWorld Block? It seems like that was your main resource and it worked out pretty well!
 
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When Uworld says the patient "Has no history of GERD, abdominal pain, blood in the stool, or melena" but the answer is GI bleed anyway
incredulous.gif
 
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pbrocks15 said:
How much time did you spend reviewing each UWorld Block? It seems like that was your main resource and it worked out pretty well!
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Yes, UW definitely was my main resource. I never really had the patience to read books!
I think I would usually review a block in about 3 hours. If the block was "easier", it would sometimes take less (maybe 2 hours) but there were a few blocks that took longer; 4 hours if not more.
My main goal was to get through 2 blocks a day, review them thoroughly and if there is something I thought I was awful at - I would look it up afterwards (for example, I spent one evening memorising the immunodeficiencies; or another on pharyngeal arch development etc).
 
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My advice to everyone:

If you're not breaking at least 270 on your first nbme within a week of starting dedicated I strongly suggest pushing back your test date.

Also if you're an incoming M1 and haven't done all the readings for first year already at least, then you're already behind. Just drop out, you'll never pass boards.

Honestly, if you haven't completed a Q bank by half way through M1, you're screwed.

You should really ideally have bros done before finishing senior year of college to stay on track.

Without a first author basic science nature paper- I strongly suggest taking at least a decade off between 3rd and 4th year to do some research.

Lastly, if you haven't discovered the cure to at least 3 or 4 diseases by the end of M2... you might want to reconsider your dedication to medicine.
 
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Krabbeman said:
My advice to everyone:

If you're not breaking at least 270 on your first nbme within a week of starting dedicated I strongly suggest pushing back your test date.

Also if you're an incoming M1 and haven't done all the readings for first year already at least, then you're already behind. Just drop out, you'll never pass boards.

Honestly, if you haven't completed a Q bank by half way through M1, you're screwed.

You should really ideally have bros done before finishing senior year of college to stay on track.

Without a first author basic science nature paper- I strongly suggest taking at least a decade off between 3rd and 4th year to do some research.

Lastly, if you haven't discovered the cure to at least 3 or 4 diseases by the end of M2... you might want to reconsider your dedication to medicine.
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I actually died. This made me laugh, thank you lol
 
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Any madden fans on here?

I just had this weird thought. Like if we were all in a video game med school version of madden for PS2, my empathy rating would be like 20/99. Like you know how you could change player ratings in the "create a player section"? My ratings would probably look something like this.

Empathy: 20/99
test taking ability:80/99
memory: 70/99
procrastination:99/99
focus: 35/99
bladder strength (for during surgery): 10/99
sleep deprivation resistance: 3/99
Overall: 55/99

Edit: I apologize for being off topic.... its just so boring waiting for step grades back
 
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Krabbeman said:
My advice to everyone:

If you're not breaking at least 270 on your first nbme within a week of starting dedicated I strongly suggest pushing back your test date.

Also if you're an incoming M1 and haven't done all the readings for first year already at least, then you're already behind. Just drop out, you'll never pass boards.

Honestly, if you haven't completed a Q bank by half way through M1, you're screwed.

You should really ideally have bros done before finishing senior year of college to stay on track.

Without a first author basic science nature paper- I strongly suggest taking at least a decade off between 3rd and 4th year to do some research.

Lastly, if you haven't discovered the cure to at least 3 or 4 diseases by the end of M2... you might want to reconsider your dedication to medicine.
Click to expand...



wait you forgot:
-If you have not been studying for the MCAT with a FA book.. consider a different career path
 
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Krabbeman said:
Right. If you haven't been annotating FA along with your undergrad classes, just drop out lmao
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Robbins and Guyton have some excellent bedtime stories for kids to get them in the right Step 1 mindset on time! Real disservice to children who haven't been exposed to that!
 
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Nephronlearner said:
Robbins and Guyton have some excellent bedtime stories for kids to get them in the right Step 1 mindset on time! Real disservice to children who haven't been exposed to that!
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My wife’s fighting me on it, but when we’re pregnant I’m gonna play pathoma from headphones into her womb at night. My parents didn’t do that for me-and I felt like I was at a huge disadvantage compared to my classmates
 
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Krabbeman said:
My wife’s fighting me on it, but when we’re pregnant I’m gonna play pathoma from headphones into her womb at night. My parents didn’t do that for me-and I felt like I was at a huge disadvantage compared to my classmates
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True story - when I was a toddler my parents used to do giant 12x12 flash cards with me where they'd show a picture of an organ and I'd name it. I also had a Circle of Willis poster in my nursery and a whole set of Netters Coloring Books

You know looking back they may have had some kind of an agenda...
 
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Foot Fetish said:
Thank you. I've actually finished all 3 of the big q banks before dedicated (RX, UW, Kaplan). I started preparing for Step 1 towards the end of M1 (probably around March 2017 or so). It started with the Brosencephalon Anki deck, and then I switched to Zanki as soon as it came out. I started doing q banks day 1 of M2 while still chipping away at the Zanki deck (and adding new cards...it's up to 29,000 cards now, 95% mature). I ignored classes as much as possible. I would skip all non-mandatory lectures and just crush Anki and q banks everyday, up to 15 hours per day at times, until about 1 week before the final exams, at which point I would cram the class powerpoints in order to pass. We're true pass/fail, so I've been content to just score around the class average this year. I wish I would have done this since day 1 of M1, but foolishly I spent most of my M1 year chasing A's in worthless classes with nothing to show for it. Oh well, better late(r) than never. I just hope this will all be enough.
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When did you start the Q banks and in what order did you complete each of the 3 qbanks? How many questions did you do a day and were they random, untimed or timed and based on block system? I have Rx and Kaplan, and would like to start using these q banks during my summer. I am completing my M1 year now.
 
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Fewa Fibroblast said:
Also:
1. Every athlete uses steroids.
2. Everyone who is not from US has never heard of vaccination.
3. Everyone drinks 2 glasses of wine per week just to confuse and make the vignette long.
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Everyone you meet on the wards save pregnant women will tell you they drink that much but yes i guess they use it as a distractor. Not sure who thinks thats ever the right answer...

Foot Fetish said:
Day 2 of dedicated, and I just finished my first official NBME exam:

NBME 15: 257 (12 incorrect)

I'm a little disappointed that I didn't break 260 on my first NBME, but I'll take it. I have 4 weeks to improve.
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Stop putting the ***** on the pedestal bro. Its just an exam. You will survive if you dont score a 300 i promise.
 
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goddamn insomnia has me effed up.

I popped a melatonin and still haven't been to bed.

Have to take a full length in t-minus 2 hours.

I am EFFED.

SO.










GODDAMN.










TIRED.





I hate you medical school for doing this to me.
 
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Krabbeman said:
My wife’s fighting me on it, but when we’re pregnant I’m gonna play pathoma from headphones into her womb at night. My parents didn’t do that for me-and I felt like I was at a huge disadvantage compared to my classmates
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I always thought the Lancet was excellent to teach kids their first letters! Wouldn't want to risk them not hearing about a recent clinical trial only to get a question about that on Step 1 25 years later and fail to get 290 :S
 
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Lannister said:
Impulsively woke up this morning and decided to take UWSA2.
NBME 13: 234
CBSE: 248
UWSA1: 258
UWSA2: 256

Really hope that what they say about UWSA2 being a strong predictor is true! 26 days to go. :arghh:
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You are on a roll. You can probably move up your test!
 
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This argument can go either way. but i think unless you're a genius, most 260s are luck that could have also been 250s. I got a 253 and got 5-6 questions wrong where I could narrow down to 2 options and picked the wrong one. most of these questions were obscure facts that I knew because I studied a lot but somehow second guessed myself.
I could have gotten a 260 if i guessed right on these questions but I would consider that luck. Sure some people would get those 5-6 questions no matter what questions those were because they are so smart, but most ppl have to take a guess on those obscure facts.
 
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Lannister said:
Impulsively woke up this morning and decided to take UWSA2.
NBME 13: 234
CBSE: 248
UWSA1: 258
UWSA2: 256

Really hope that what they say about UWSA2 being a strong predictor is true! 26 days to go. :arghh:
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That’s awesome! How long ago did you take NBME 13? And what kind of Uworld averages are you getting, if you don’t mind me asking?

Seriously you should just take the test tomorrow and be done with it lol. I wish I’d put in the hours and done a all the pre-dedicated prep you did!
 
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NecFasc92 said:
I created a formula for the uwsas vs real exam score but it doesn't always work (though seems decent) and people like you who seem exceptionally good at uworld are outliers.

That being said, I'll say 264
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Well I reallllly hope I get to send you a pizza
 
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NecFasc92 said:
I need your brain. Just give me like 10% on uworld, you'll still be above a 240 😀
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Haha I promise my brain is entirely average!

sharkbyte said:
You are on a roll. You can probably move up your test!
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The Knife & Gun Club said:
That’s awesome! How long ago did you take NBME 13? And what kind of Uworld averages are you getting, if you don’t mind me asking?

Seriously you should just take the test tomorrow and be done with it lol. I wish I’d put in the hours and done a all the pre-dedicated prep you did!
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The temptation to take step like next week is strong haha. But I think I would regret doing that. If I ended up scoring poorly, I would hate myself forever for moving it up. But I think if I really start to feel burnt out, I will end up moving it up. Hoping that won't happen, I feel like I can make it through another 26 days.

I took NBME 13 almost exactly a month ago (did not realize it had been that long!). I am 1700 questions into UWorld and my average is 85.2%. Hoping to be done with UWorld by the end of next weekend. Still not sure if I should re-do my incorrects or not. Also not sure if it's worth watching sketchy micro at this point.
 
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afib123 said:
This argument can go either way. but i think unless you're a genius, most 260s are luck that could have also been 250s. I got a 253 and got 5-6 questions wrong where I could narrow down to 2 options and picked the wrong one. most of these questions were obscure facts that I knew because I studied a lot but somehow second guessed myself.
I could have gotten a 260 if i guessed right on these questions but I would consider that luck. Sure some people would get those 5-6 questions no matter what questions those were because they are so smart, but most ppl have to take a guess on those obscure facts.
Click to expand...

You're saying that these facts are obscure as in they're minutiae from UWorld/FA that most people don't dwell on?
 
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