USMLE Official 2019 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[libertyyne]

Lets get this started.
M2. Mid Tier everything.
Entertaining some surgical sub-specialties.

Goal 270
Happy with 245

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[medicineman1234]

Throwing my hat in here- hopefully I'm not too late to the game. Last year's thread was super helpful, and it's fun to follow along with folks.

State school, supposedly low ranked (but I love it)
Rank isn't published but all honors so far, likely in top 10%

Goal Score: 270 (it's fun to dream)
CBSE0 (school required in October): 229
Traditional curriculum
Applied to med school for surgery-never really considered anything else. Still about surgery but not sure which subspecialty. Who knows though, I could hit the wards and decide peds is for me. I'm intent on keeping an open mind.

Goals pre-dedicated:
Finish Zanki pharm+OG decks
Finish lolnotacop micro deck
Finish USLMERx - Currently 82%
Finish Pathoma
Finish Kaplan Qbank - Currently 82%

Current Status:

Used Zanki off and on first half of MS2 but started to focus more on it around October. Didn't use anki much MS1 except for anatomy (not Zanki). I'm all in on Anki now though and have been grinding it since late Dec. About 65% done with both zankis. Chugging through the lolnotacop deck with about 20-30% done. Did some Kaplan Qbank last fall with classes, but not much. Started USMLERx in January. About halfway done with both Qbanks. I only do questions for subjects I have covered, but I try to make sure I'm far enough removed from subjects before including them. I find that is more productive for me.

Future Plans:

I'm planning to pepper in some light Uworld soon, but I want to make it my focus during dedicated. Not sure about how I should plan my NBMEs or how many I need to take. Test is scheduled for the end of May. I'm sitting at about 1500 cards (news+reviews) a day with regular Qbank work + classes/lectures + research. Honestly it's exhausting lol. I'm counting down the days until I can walk away from this grind. If I didn't get my run in every day I'd be losing it. Also, the stress of trying to get my research off my plate before dedicated has actually been worse than any school-related stress. Not fun, but I should be sitting pretty come third year with time to focus on developing real skills.

Advice:

For anyone reading this looking for study advice, I HIGHLY recommend starting a Qbank early. I quickly realized that I was extremely weak in micro, and micro is a huge part of this process. Like 10-15% of all my questions seem to have some micro component, and micro stuff was half of my wrongs early on. In response to this I added the lolnotacop deck to my rotation, and it has been immensely helpful.

tlr CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE EARLY AND ADJUST. You don't want to be panicking in dedicated realizing you suck at broad subjects with only a few weeks available.

Anyway, best of luck to everyone else on that grind. We've got this! And don't forget that demonstrated passion for a specialty can overcome whatever happens (except for maybe derm/ent that **** is wild). Also, sorry for the wall of text.

Pce

Do you do the banks time random? Having trouble finishing quickly at the moment even though I feel I know a decent amount I can't conjure it in time required. Anyone have tips on this

 

[TheVagüs]

Do you do the banks time random? Having trouble finishing quickly at the moment even though I feel I know a decent amount I can't conjure it in time required. Anyone have tips on this

Yea I do the banks timed random for all subjects I've finished in school. If the info is coming to you but just a little late you are in a good spot. A couple things:

1. In your studying, once you have the original info/concept down try to be faster every time you review it. It's important to get your brain used to quick recall and sorting through your mental Rolodex. While I think carefully considering stuff is important to build that initial web, pattern recognition is what will get you answering questions faster- timed review will help train that part of your mind. I have an add on in anki that makes it so I only have 8s to answer any reviews. It keeps me focused on fast recall even if it means I have to pause a lot to clarify things I have forgotten.

2. You will get faster with practice as you develop your approach to problems. I am faster now compared to a few months ago. Now I focus quickly on important things in question stems. Patient age, acute vs chronic, unique symptoms, aberrant labs, etc- the important stuff jumps out and sticks better than it did. You will get better at focusing on and parsing these things in time. Just keep going with the practice problems.

 

[Epicurusall]

So does anyone know if the scores this year (with the update in questions) will be compared to those from the past for percentile and score, or will they all be grouped and compared to our peers since the change? Is that why the scores will be delayed, they'll be calculating the new percentiles?

 

[kb1900]

Yea I do the banks timed random for all subjects I've finished in school. If the info is coming to you but just a little late you are in a good spot. A couple things:

1. In your studying, once you have the original info/concept down try to be faster every time you review it. It's important to get your brain used to quick recall and sorting through your mental Rolodex. While I think carefully considering stuff is important to build that initial web, pattern recognition is what will get you answering questions faster- timed review will help train that part of your mind. I have an add on in anki that makes it so I only have 8s to answer any reviews. It keeps me focused on fast recall even if it means I have to pause a lot to clarify things I have forgotten.

2. You will get faster with practice as you develop your approach to problems. I am faster now compared to a few months ago. Now I focus quickly on important things in question stems. Patient age, acute vs chronic, unique symptoms, aberrant labs, etc- the important stuff jumps out and sticks better than it did. You will get better at focusing on and parsing these things in time. Just keep going with the practice problems.

i really want to spend my time doing random timed as i go through kaplan but its not time-efficient for me at all. after 6 blocks my % correct is around a 75% with everything but endo and renal unsuspended but i get a lot of questions correct where i still didn't know everything in the explanation. it takes ages to review and im not trying to create hundreds of new anki cards per block. when im reviewing and get 1 question wrong because i couldnt remember what the LTN innerates and then the next review is because i didn't recall an intermediate in purine synthesis, it makes it far harder to organize and review the info.

going forward im probably just going to focus on finishing it by alternating doing 1) untimed tutor mode subject-specific question blocks (e.g. anatomy/biochem which are weak for me) or 2) random timed for all the organ systems ive covered that i feel "strong" in

for whatever reason when i do uworld i dont feel the need to do this at all. my % correct hovers around 80-85% in random timed and reviewing the questions isn't hellish compared to kaplan. probably bc uw has better questions and explanations.

 

[TheVagüs]

i really want to spend my time doing random timed as i go through kaplan but its not time-efficient for me at all. after 6 blocks my % correct is around a 75% with everything but endo and renal unsuspended but i get a lot of questions correct where i still didn't know everything in the explanation. it takes ages to review and im not trying to create hundreds of new anki cards per block. when im reviewing and get 1 question wrong because i couldnt remember what the LTN innerates and then the next review is because i didn't recall an intermediate in purine synthesis, it makes it far harder to organize and review the info.

going forward im probably just going to focus on finishing it by alternating doing 1) untimed tutor mode subject-specific question blocks (e.g. anatomy/biochem which are weak for me) or 2) random timed for all the organ systems ive covered that i feel "strong" in

for whatever reason when i do uworld i dont feel the need to do this at all. my % correct hovers around 80-85% in random timed and reviewing the questions isn't hellish compared to kaplan. probably bc uw has better questions and explanations.

Your percentages are really strong. Do what works for you and follow your gut because it's clearly working so far.

I agree that Kaplan can be a bit long-winded and the information is sometimes esoteric. I should add that my review process is not that thorough for these Qbanks. While I will be carefully combing Uworld and making a deck of incorrects for that, for Kaplan and USMLERx I just quickly review my wrongs and marks. I ask myself "What one major piece of info did I not know, and what have I learned?" I answer it out loud to myself then move on. My goal with these problems is to integrate what I already know and get used to applying what I know to clinical scenarios- I don't see them as a tool for learning new info.

I have the same thing happen a lot, where I get a question right but clearly didn't know everything they wanted me to know. And I think that's good! That's part of the point! On the real deal there is gonna be a lot of wild **** that you have to think and reason your way through with incomplete information. That's what I think these problems help with the most.

 

[kb1900]

Your percentages are really strong. Do what works for you and follow your gut because it's clearly working so far.

I agree that Kaplan can be a bit long-winded and the information is sometimes esoteric. I should add that my review process is not that thorough for these Qbanks. While I will be carefully combing Uworld and making a deck of incorrects for that, for Kaplan and USMLERx I just quickly review my wrongs and marks. I ask myself "What one major piece of info did I not know, and what have I learned?" I answer it out loud to myself then move on. My goal with these problems is to integrate what I already know and get used to applying what I know to clinical scenarios- I don't see them as a tool for learning new info.

I have the same thing happen a lot, where I get a question right but clearly didn't know everything they wanted me to know. And I think that's good! That's part of the point! On the real deal there is gonna be a lot of wild **** that you have to think and reason your way through with incomplete information. That's what I think these problems help with the most.

thanks you for the reply- we spend so much time juggling a lot of resources that adding a new one + the slight guilt of not anking every minutae of it was a bit stressful. but your post, especially the bolded makes me feel a ton better.

 

[getfat]

Just took NBME 13 --> 184.

I'm about 3 months out from my test date but its still pretty disheartening.

Nothing will light a fire under your but like a score like this haha.

 

[JimsonWeed]

Dude congrats! Awesome score! That’s amazing. How’d you feel after the exam? In other words, did you know you crushed it or did you feel terrible/thought you “failed” like many 250+ people on here? As time went on before you got your score, did you keep track of how many questions you knew you got wrong? If so, how many do you think?

Step 1: 258

UWorld: 85% (1st and only pass, tutor mode, random)
RX: 86%
Kaplan: 87%
46 days out - NBME 15: 250
30 days out - NBME 13: 250
23 days out - NBME 16: 252
16 days out - NBME 19: 250
9 days out - NBME 17: 252
1 day out - Free 120: 87%
NBME 18, UWSA 1 & 2: I did not take because I wanted to study rather than keep getting the same score on practice tests.


Before medical school: For most of my life, I have been a very below average student. Throughout elementary and high school, I was always near the bottom of my class. Because of this, I was rejected from literally every university that I applied to except for my city's university that I applied to at the very last minute. Decided I wanted to go to medical school in the middle of college, and obviously stepped it up a ton. When I started medical school, I expected that things were going to be a lot tougher than what I was used to academically. I was entering a school where the vast majority of my classmates had a lifetime of academic excellence, attended mostly Ivy League schools, stellar MCATs, probably higher IQs, etc. To make matters worse, I was solely interested in pursuing arguably the most competitive specialty in medicine, Dermatology. So, I started preparing for Step 1 on the very first day of medical school. For most people, this is considered overboard, gunnerish, whatever. I had my reasons for doing this though, and really didn't give a **** to listen to anyone advising our class to "hold off studying for step 1, you'll have plenty of time." I would argue that the majority of my classmates that followed this train of thought have not been doing so hot.

1st year of medical school (July - May 2018): During anatomy, I used our school's lectures, powerpoints, and firecracker. I was scoring within a point or two of the highest score on every professor written exam and the NBME subject exam. After anatomy, I completely ditched our school's curriculum and used only Firecracker, Boards and Beyond, Pathoma and Sketchy Micro / Pharm. Once we hit organ systems I continued with this but added on RX and Kaplan questions. My professor written exam scores plummeted, but I stayed about the same on NBME subject exams. I studied probably five days a week from 8am-7pm and about three hours a day on Saturday and Sunday. I would take a 1 to 2 hour lunch break. I still had plenty of time to socialize, work out, travel, go to concerts, live a completely normal life.

2nd year of medical school (August - December 2018): Continued with the same routine through the rest of organ systems. Still did not watch a school lecture, open up a school powerpoint, use school's study guides, professor written questions, etc. Actually ended up scoring the lowest grade on our last professor written exam before starting dedicated. First couple months was same study style as first year, last couple months started studying on the weekends a little bit more. Still had plenty of time to have a completely normal life.

Dedicated (46 days): By this point, I had marked and completed 100% of Firecracker, 100% of Pathoma watched only once (some vids twice), 100% of Sketchy Micro / Pharm, about 90% of Boards and Beyond, 75% of RX, 50% of Kaplan, 0% of UWorld. Obviously, I needed to spend most of my time during dedicated using UWorld and doing NBMEs. I did only 40-70 questions of UWorld every day, and that was it. I still had about 200 questions left that I didn't finish, UWorld kept adding more questions every day towards the end of my study block. My schedule was very similar to year 2 except that my weekends were just as intense as my weekdays. The last week or two I studied an extra hour or two per day.

Thoughts on exam: Very fair test. On average, the stems were significantly longer than UWorld. First block was the easiest block I've ever encountered and a lot of my buddies felt similarly. Middle blocks were the toughest. Your exam might be different, don't let a tough/easy block psych you out. Marked anywhere from 5-20 per block. About 95% of the exam I could tell you the exact concept that they were testing and where it would be located in UFAPS. Less than 5% of the exam was on bugs/drugs/topics that I only found in Firecracker or had to guess. Often times these "random" topics were incorrect answer choices, but a few times I can confirm that they were the correct answer choice. I do know of two questions specifically that were on things that were only in older editions of First Aid (based on citations in Firecracker). Maybe you could get these questions right through process of elimination, or maybe they weren't actually the correct answer choice and I messed up.

My take on score predictions: I would strongly suggest calculating your NBME average and subtracting 5 or 10 points. This should be a score that you are willing to accept as a score that you might get. I many times have told myself over the past month to be happy if I score above a 240-245. Too many times people post about how devastated they are when they receive a final score that falls right around (or even above) the average of their practice scores. This idea that people regularly outscore their practice scores is going to set up most people for disappointment. Don't believe me? Go to the 2018 scores thread. Report back how many times you see someone hoping for a 250, 260, 270, posting every few days and then just completely disappear from this site within a few days of receiving their official score never to report how they did. It happens a lot. I would imagine these are some of the thousands of people who scored below their average that aren't really in the mood to do a write up on SDN or fill out the reddit score correlation surveys. Then, on the other end, you have people like me who luckily score above their average and excitedly post about it on SDN or reddit and give members a false sense that you should expect nearly a ten point jump from your NBME average. Don't do this. Humble yourself, work on lowering those expectations while waiting for your score to come back.

That all being said, there is something to be said about setting realistic goals and working to make those dreams a reality. Here's a post I made about eight months ago.

My first practice test was a 250. I got a 258 on game day.

My suggestions: Study harder. That doesn't mean to study more hours, add more resources, or over complicate things. Just take the few resources that have been recommended time and time again on here (Zanki/Lightyear or Firecracker, the big 3 q-banks, FAPS, +/- BB) and absolutely crush those every single day from here until your exam day. Use these resources in whatever way works best for you. If that means doing a chapter of first aid, two chapters of Pathoma on 4x speed, and six UWorld blocks before lunch every day, then that's great. If all you can handle is two blocks of UWorld in a 12 hour day, then that is perfectly fine too. It doesn't matter if you're a first or second year student in dedicated, start grinding. Close down SDN, shut off your phone, sit in a corner in the library alone, do whatever you have to do to grind. When your shift is over for the day. Go enjoy your life, relationships, hobbies, whatever.

Myths:

1. "You need to study school material to score above a 250 or 260."
2. "People who do well on Step 1 are naturally good test takers."
3. "There's a ton of questions on Step 1 that are not covered in the big resources."
4. "Most people outscore their NBME average."

Happy to answer any questions or clarify anything.

 

[Newyawk]

i really want to spend my time doing random timed as i go through kaplan but its not time-efficient for me at all. after 6 blocks my % correct is around a 75% with everything but endo and renal unsuspended but i get a lot of questions correct where i still didn't know everything in the explanation. it takes ages to review and im not trying to create hundreds of new anki cards per block. when im reviewing and get 1 question wrong because i couldnt remember what the LTN innerates and then the next review is because i didn't recall an intermediate in purine synthesis, it makes it far harder to organize and review the info.

going forward im probably just going to focus on finishing it by alternating doing 1) untimed tutor mode subject-specific question blocks (e.g. anatomy/biochem which are weak for me) or 2) random timed for all the organ systems ive covered that i feel "strong" in

for whatever reason when i do uworld i dont feel the need to do this at all. my % correct hovers around 80-85% in random timed and reviewing the questions isn't hellish compared to kaplan. probably bc uw has better questions and explanations.

This is my issue with anki summed up. Youre not reading an explanation bc you dont want to add it to a deck? The name of the game is questions - multiple choice questions to be precise. You dont need to know anything 100% to answer the Q - you just need to know it enough to be able to rule out the other wrong answers.
An intermediate in the purine synthesis pathway? You dont need to know every detail to get a Q right. Comeon people.
The more you read, the more you know. Knowing something cold isnt necessary.

 

[kb1900]

This is my issue with anki summed up. Youre not reading an explanation bc you dont want to add it to a deck? The name of the game is questions - multiple choice questions to be precise. You dont need to know anything 100% to answer the Q - you just need to know it enough to be able to rule out the other wrong answers.
An intermediate in the purine synthesis pathway? You dont need to know every detail to get a Q right. Comeon people.
The more you read, the more you know. Knowing something cold isnt necessary.

Where did I say I’m forgoing reading explanations? I’m still reading them and doing questions. This isn’t zero sum where you going in on anki is at the cost of doing more questions. My post was not even about anki as much as it’s about doing related questions/review together vs jumping from 1 topic to another

I agree that Anki definitely creates a bad habit of just memorizing everything cold and this builds up over 2 years of being tested on 1st order details in poorly written weekly school exams and will probably take a few weeks to break.

 

[Newyawk]

Where did I say I’m forgoing reading explanations? I’m still reading them and doing questions. This isn’t zero sum where you going in on anki is at the cost of doing more questions. My post was not even about anki as much as it’s about doing related questions/review together vs jumping from 1 topic to another

I agree that Anki definitely creates a bad habit of just memorizing everything cold and this builds up over 2 years of being tested on 1st order details in poorly written weekly school exams and will probably take a few weeks to break.

Got you. My take on it is, bc its a multiple choice exam, exposure is key. The more exposure you have the more youll be able to work through unfamiliar Qs. In my experience on both steps, i felt like crap coming out both times bc i was unsure of myself on so many answers. Im realizing now that this is probably in part due to the way i study (i just do as many Qs and read as much as possible while taking notes without ever reviewing my notes).

 

[Gurby]

Got you. My take on it is, bc its a multiple choice exam, exposure is key. The more exposure you have the more youll be able to work through unfamiliar Qs. In my experience on both steps, i felt like crap coming out both times bc i was unsure of myself on so many answers. Im realizing now that this is probably in part due to the way i study (i just do as many Qs and read as much as possible while taking notes without ever reviewing my notes).

Interesting. I've been following the "learn the details cold" mindset so far as I go through Kaplan alongside my classes. I figure the more stuff I know cold, the more I'll be able to confidently rule things out. But maybe it's a fool's errand to take this approach and you're better served by knowing a lot of things luke-warm (at least for the purpose of doing well on a MCQ test).

I wonder if it might be more beneficial to split the difference: learn UW cold, but use Kaplan+Rx more for repetition/exposure/practice and not get as caught up in memorizing all their minutiae.

I could see my dedicated schedule being: daily morning 2 blocks of UW -> make painfully detailed anki cards -> do all anki reviews -> use remaining time to crank through Rx/Kaplan questions, read the explanations but only make new cards for egregious knowledge gaps.

 

[libertyyne]

Got you. My take on it is, bc its a multiple choice exam, exposure is key. The more exposure you have the more youll be able to work through unfamiliar Qs. In my experience on both steps, i felt like crap coming out both times bc i was unsure of myself on so many answers. Im realizing now that this is probably in part due to the way i study (i just do as many Qs and read as much as possible while taking notes without ever reviewing my notes).

How many questions did you do prior to step in preparation?

 

[libertyyne]

Interesting. I've been following the "learn the details cold" mindset so far as I go through Kaplan alongside my classes. I figure the more stuff I know cold, the more I'll be able to confidently rule things out. But maybe it's a fool's errand to take this approach and you're better served by knowing a lot of things luke-warm (at least for the purpose of doing well on a MCQ test).

I wonder if it might be more beneficial to split the difference: learn UW cold, but use Kaplan+Rx more for repetition/exposure/practice and not get as caught up in memorizing all their minutiae.

I could see my dedicated schedule being: daily morning 2 blocks of UW -> make painfully detailed anki cards -> do all anki reviews -> use remaining time to crank through Rx/Kaplan questions, read the explanations but only make new cards for egregious knowledge gaps.

this is really similar to what I am planning on doing. I am however hopeing to put big dents in Rx+kaplan before dedicated starts. and I will keep up with zanki cards in my weakest subjects... biochem..genetics.

 

[Gurby]

I am however hopeing to put big dents in Rx+kaplan before dedicated starts.

At the start of every block of classes this year I've said "this is the block where I put a dent in Kaplan/Rx!". Then I end up not actually making any progress after all, and before you know it dedicated is only 2 months away

 

[libertyyne]

At the start of every block of classes this year I've said "this is the block where I put a dent in Kaplan/Rx!". Then I end up not actually making any progress after all, and before you know it dedicated is only 2 months away

Haha D-Day is 2.5 months for me so I am proper ****ed as the british call it. I going to try to do 2 blocks a day for Kaplan/RX and see where that lands me.

I am doing all the previous NBMEs so that is roughly 3.8K questions with 1k done so far.

 

[Newyawk]

Interesting. I've been following the "learn the details cold" mindset so far as I go through Kaplan alongside my classes. I figure the more stuff I know cold, the more I'll be able to confidently rule things out. But maybe it's a fool's errand to take this approach and you're better served by knowing a lot of things luke-warm (at least for the purpose of doing well on a MCQ test).

I wonder if it might be more beneficial to split the difference: learn UW cold, but use Kaplan+Rx more for repetition/exposure/practice and not get as caught up in memorizing all their minutiae.

I could see my dedicated schedule being: daily morning 2 blocks of UW -> make painfully detailed anki cards -> do all anki reviews -> use remaining time to crank through Rx/Kaplan questions, read the explanations but only make new cards for egregious knowledge gaps.

Fwiw, when i did kaplan and rx throughout the year i never took notes on them and almost only did them on my phone while in the bathroom or waiting on line for something, etc. I basically used them as primers for uworld or reinforcement as they often test the same info. Kaplan i liked bc it was so random especially in physio and microbio.
Im not even sure how vital the minutiae in uworld are. I guess it depends how you define minutiae.
Also wrt your other post, there were multiple systems where i either couldnt get to kaplan or didnt finish kaplan or rx. I always made sure to run through uworld at least once tho and go through first aid once per system.

Also for both step 1 and CK, but especially CK, they expect you to know common topics VERY well (like 2nd line tx well) but uncommon topics will be as clear as day, you just have to be able to recognize it. For the latter, you barely have to know the answer - you just have to be able to pick it out of a lineup. There were several occasions where i had little idea wtf the Q was about until i saw the choices.

How many questions did you do prior to step in preparation?

Throughout the years id say i did over 15000 Qs. I did about 1k-1.5k kaplan, 2000 Rx, 2400 uworld x2 (dedicated), nbmes and uwsas, then i also did many subject specific question books like robbins and rubins (my professor loved grabbing Qs from these), greys anatomy, guyton and hall physio, pretest for multiple subjects, among others.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Interesting. I've been following the "learn the details cold" mindset so far as I go through Kaplan alongside my classes. I figure the more stuff I know cold, the more I'll be able to confidently rule things out. But maybe it's a fool's errand to take this approach and you're better served by knowing a lot of things luke-warm (at least for the purpose of doing well on a MCQ test).

I wonder if it might be more beneficial to split the difference: learn UW cold, but use Kaplan+Rx more for repetition/exposure/practice and not get as caught up in memorizing all their minutiae.

I could see my dedicated schedule being: daily morning 2 blocks of UW -> make painfully detailed anki cards -> do all anki reviews -> use remaining time to crank through Rx/Kaplan questions, read the explanations but only make new cards for egregious knowledge gaps.

Not gonna lie, I felt that the more I knew cold, the better. Some of the answer choices are close enough that knowing it cold was the only way I could feel all that confident when answering a question. I prefer a little more certainty though so it might not be for everyone.

 

[Newyawk]

Not gonna lie, I felt that the more I knew cold, the better. Some of the answer choices are close enough that knowing it cold was the only way I could feel all that confident when answering a question. I prefer a little more certainty though so it might not be for everyone.

I respect that. I personally am pretty impatient so even when i tried reviewing things i just opted to do more Qs instead.

 

[TRPMinus]

Thank you! I actually felt pretty happy with how things went on exam day. I didn’t feel any worse or better than how I did after any of my practice NBME’s. I marked a similar amount per block, guessed on a similar amount too. I mainly was happy that everything went smoothly on exam day, I got a good sleep the night before, got to prometrics early, didn’t get tired or excessively hungry at all during the day, never ran out of time on any blocks. The afternoon after my exam I maybe looked up ten questions. I think I got eight out of the ten wrong so I stopped thinking about questions. I also stayed very busy and traveled out of the country for the past couple weeks and didn’t really have time to think of exam questions. I could have gotten anywhere from 10-30 questions wrong. I would be very surprised if I got more wrong than that.

You really feel like you only got 10-30 wrong? that would leave you between 90-96% on the test. I suppose it's possible, but that does seem pretty miraculous. I'm waiting to get my score right now and I know for sure of 19-20 that I missed and I was scoring high on NBMEs. That said, I do tend to remember a lot of my misses and some people try not to. Congrats on your score though, that is awesome!

 

[NeuResurgens]

I respect that. I personally am pretty impatient so even when i tried reviewing things i just opted to do more Qs instead.

That's one of the big challenges studying for step 1 - there are many ways to do it and there's a lot of good advice to be had but in the end, you have to know what fits best with your personality and learning style (it's similar when you first get into med school too). I tend to waste a lot of valuable seconds on a question if I don't have a high degree of certainty while answering it, so knowing things cold helped me move on and save time. I will definitely say that reviewing after completing a block was very onerous too though, haha.

 

[Gurby]

Yeah I'm nervous. Personally I thought the NBME exams were pretty easy (was getting 97%, upper 260s) and actual step was a beast. I have 20-25 questions from the actual test I know I got wrong. I really would like to believe the curve on step is more forgiving than the NBME curve since the questions are definitely harder on step.

In what way did you find them harder/different? Anything you wish you would have done differently to prepare for this?

 

[sunshinefl]

Been participating on this thread for a long time, but don’t think I ever put my goals down in writing.

Dedicated starts: 05/16
Step 1 date: 06/22

Dream score: 230
Feel good with: 225
Feel okay with: 220
Can live with: 210

I’m a DO student. Multiple specialties of interest currently, but most likely Internal Medicine. Would like to stay in Florida for residency. Possibly interested in adult primary care, Infectious Disease, Rheumatology.

Throughout 2nd year I’ve used First Aid, Pathoma, and Boards and Beyond alongside courses. Dabbled in anki some.

Plans going forward: started Lolnotacop deck (I have weaknesses in micro and anti-microbial), will focus Light Year decks on areas of weakness, start UWorld, NBMEs, continue Boards and Beyond/Pathoma/First Aid review.

 

[sunshine02]

Is there an easy way to count up how many questions you got wrong on NBME? They stratify it by sections so I have to click through every section to get to incorrect answers and sometimes the same questions come up in multiple sections.

 

[TRPMinus]

Is there an easy way to count up how many questions you got wrong on NBME? They stratify it by sections so I have to click through every section to get to incorrect answers and sometimes the same questions come up in multiple sections.

Not that I've found, its pretty stupid. I would literally start at the top and write down the question numbers I hadn't seen yet and continue down until I'd seen them all. Didn't take that long. I'll be embarrassed if someone else knows how to do it haha

 

[Newyawk]

Yeah I'm nervous. Personally I thought the NBME exams were pretty easy (was getting 97%, upper 260s) and actual step was a beast. I have 20-25 questions from the actual test I know I got wrong. I really would like to believe the curve on step is more forgiving than the NBME curve since the questions are definitely harder on step.

Dw just trust your practice scores. Most people score around their practice scores regardless of how they feel. I had many friends think they did well but bomb and it vice versa.

 

[TRPMinus]

Dw just trust your practice scores. Most people score around their practice scores regardless of how they feel. I had many friends think they did well but bomb and it vice versa.

Yeah I know, I guess I just wasn't expecting to remember 25 questions that I got wrong. Makes me nervous for what I don't remember lol

 

[sunshine02]

Does anyone who has consistently used the zanki deck during dedicated have any tips on managing time (zanki vs. uworld questions/doing questions in general)? It's getting really hard to keep up with all the reviews--I usually end up doing around 2000 a day and it takes so much time (I have ~9000 backed up because there were 2 months when I was on my OBGYN rotation when there was just no time to do zanki). But my nbme breakdown shows that my weakest areas are the ones I haven't done flashcards for and my strongest ones are areas I've zanki'ed consistently. I just worry that I'm doing zanki too much at the expense of doing questions. But I worry that if I drop zanki I'll forget too much...

 

[medicineman1234]

Anyone got tips on when to start uworld or tips in general? My confidence is low at the moment.

Current progress:
23k zanki cards completed, like 18.5k matured. Still have a few thousand left.
Rx only 400 questions completed, but I'm having trouble doing them fast enough or sometimes making another leap in thinking. At a % of only 71% for RX randomized with most being untimed, I'm worried this is going to crush my chances of getting my goal score. Realizing that lots of questions on our in house exams are super 1st order, and doing well on them meant nothing compared to this stuff. Wish I started q banks a lot earlier after each organ system but school pace moved fast and I wanted to cover more ground foundationally with zanki.

Current Plan:
Finish zanki in the next 2-3 months and RX. Hoping to do 100-130 news a day and maybe 20 rx questions a day?
Maybe pick up Kaplan in april and do it for a month?
In mid may, take a practice exam to see my baseline.
Considering not doing kaplan and starting Uworld earlier but not sure (test in at least 5-6 months).

Another worry I have is 2 things: one is I've done the content review, watched pathoma, did the cards, but I'm still having trouble making leaps in logic/answers with good speed like I've mentioned. What else can I do here if that's the issue? Just more problems?
Second is big: no true dedicated. My school keeps us relatively busy year round. I likely won't be able to get a true 4-6 week in a row dedicated then take the exam right after. Instead, I have let's say 12 weeks where weekends I can probably study 10-12 hours a day like a normal dedicated and weekdays 4-7 hours depending how busy. Is this gonna **** me over? I hear people talking about peaking and forgetting info like crazy after peak, and I also see that people who are average or take their scores from a low one to a high one go crazy during the dedicated period. IMGs with poor foundations get months at a time. What can I do when I don't have 4-6 weeks where I can truly study all day unfettered?

The only silver lining is I will be taking my test early August, so I still have maybe 5-6 months left and that my goal score isn't something insane like a 260. A 240-245 is my dream score.

Again any tips appreciated if you have any based on this situation.

 

[KungFuPanda123]

I'm still pretty confused by when scores are released. If we took our test on Tuesday Feb 12th, do we get our scores back this Wednesday March 6th? And if we took it on Wednesday Feb 13th, do we still get our score on March 6th?

 

[TheVagüs]

Anyone got tips on when to start uworld or tips in general? My confidence is low at the moment.

Current progress:
23k zanki cards completed, like 18.5k matured. Still have a few thousand left.
Rx only 400 questions completed, but I'm having trouble doing them fast enough or sometimes making another leap in thinking. At a % of only 71% for RX randomized with most being untimed, I'm worried this is going to crush my chances of getting my goal score. Realizing that lots of questions on our in house exams are super 1st order, and doing well on them meant nothing compared to this stuff. Wish I started q banks a lot earlier after each organ system but school pace moved fast and I wanted to cover more ground foundationally with zanki.

Current Plan:
Finish zanki in the next 2-3 months and RX. Hoping to do 100-130 news a day and maybe 20 rx questions a day?
Maybe pick up Kaplan in april and do it for a month?
In mid may, take a practice exam to see my baseline.
Considering not doing kaplan and starting Uworld earlier but not sure (test in at least 5-6 months).

Another worry I have is 2 things: one is I've done the content review, watched pathoma, did the cards, but I'm still having trouble making leaps in logic/answers with good speed like I've mentioned. What else can I do here if that's the issue? Just more problems?
Second is big: no true dedicated. My school keeps us relatively busy year round. I likely won't be able to get a true 4-6 week in a row dedicated then take the exam right after. Instead, I have let's say 12 weeks where weekends I can probably study 10-12 hours a day like a normal dedicated and weekdays 4-7 hours depending how busy. Is this gonna **** me over? I hear people talking about peaking and forgetting info like crazy after peak, and I also see that people who are average or take their scores from a low one to a high one go crazy during the dedicated period. IMGs with poor foundations get months at a time. What can I do when I don't have 4-6 weeks where I can truly study all day unfettered?

The only silver lining is I will be taking my test early August, so I still have maybe 5-6 months left and that my goal score isn't something insane like a 260. A 240-245 is my dream score.

Again any tips appreciated if you have any based on this situation.

Problems my dude. Get going with those problems. Your Zanki/Pathoma progress is great, but you need to get to integrating, especially if you don't have a dedicated. Do as many problems as you can get your hands on. Do Kaplan with USMLERx- they are of roughly equal quality and difficulty (imo) so I see no reason to save one for later like people do with Uworld.

I think the folks who have mad improvement over dedicated weren't grinding too hard before it. They had a lot of room to grow. If you hit dedicated with a lot of preparation behind you then peaking is a real possibility. In your case, since your school is psychotic and doesn't provide a true dedicated, you need to be carving out as much consistent work daily as you can. That said, you imply that you will have 40-55 hours a week to prep during your 'dedicated.' That's actually a lot, and you should be fine if you're focused and treat it like a job. Punch the clock, get it done, sleep, repeat.

Also, you make it sound like you are >3 months out from your exam with only a few thousand Zanki left and pathoma completed. Take a deep breath, because you are in a good spot and have a lot of time. If I was in your shoes, I would ignore school as much as possible closing in on the exam. The reality is, outside of failing, nothing you can be graded on in preclinicals will trump a solid step 1 score. Nothing. So prioritize it.

Pce

Edit: Maybe someone else can chime in so I'm not constantly giving medicineman advice? haha

 

[libertyyne]

Anyone got tips on when to start uworld or tips in general? My confidence is low at the moment.

Current progress:
23k zanki cards completed, like 18.5k matured. Still have a few thousand left.
Rx only 400 questions completed, but I'm having trouble doing them fast enough or sometimes making another leap in thinking. At a % of only 71% for RX randomized with most being untimed, I'm worried this is going to crush my chances of getting my goal score. Realizing that lots of questions on our in house exams are super 1st order, and doing well on them meant nothing compared to this stuff. Wish I started q banks a lot earlier after each organ system but school pace moved fast and I wanted to cover more ground foundationally with zanki.

Current Plan:
Finish zanki in the next 2-3 months and RX. Hoping to do 100-130 news a day and maybe 20 rx questions a day?
Maybe pick up Kaplan in april and do it for a month?
In mid may, take a practice exam to see my baseline.
Considering not doing kaplan and starting Uworld earlier but not sure (test in at least 5-6 months).

Another worry I have is 2 things: one is I've done the content review, watched pathoma, did the cards, but I'm still having trouble making leaps in logic/answers with good speed like I've mentioned. What else can I do here if that's the issue? Just more problems?
Second is big: no true dedicated. My school keeps us relatively busy year round. I likely won't be able to get a true 4-6 week in a row dedicated then take the exam right after. Instead, I have let's say 12 weeks where weekends I can probably study 10-12 hours a day like a normal dedicated and weekdays 4-7 hours depending how busy. Is this gonna **** me over? I hear people talking about peaking and forgetting info like crazy after peak, and I also see that people who are average or take their scores from a low one to a high one go crazy during the dedicated period. IMGs with poor foundations get months at a time. What can I do when I don't have 4-6 weeks where I can truly study all day unfettered?

The only silver lining is I will be taking my test early August, so I still have maybe 5-6 months left and that my goal score isn't something insane like a 260. A 240-245 is my dream score.

Again any tips appreciated if you have any based on this situation.

Since @TheVagooseIsLoose asked for other people to chime in i will give it a shot.
1. How is your test taking skill in general?
If you have had issues with standardized testing before the best course of action would be to fix that, the only way I can think of is recreate the exam and do questions.
2. If you are having issues with content, then keep a relentless focus on zanki.
3. reach out to your school and ask if they have data to support performance in class and step one, if they dont , just pass your classes and focus on step.

Uworld, golijan audio do a great job of integration, but most of the time doing questions and thinking about things in a different light is usually a good way to integrate.

 

[redsox93]

I'm still pretty confused by when scores are released. If we took our test on Tuesday Feb 12th, do we get our scores back this Wednesday March 6th? And if we took it on Wednesday Feb 13th, do we still get our score on March 6th?

Yep those would both be the 6th. You can check if your permit disappeared to confirm your scores coming out this week

 

[medicineman1234]

Problems my dude. Get going with those problems. Your Zanki/Pathoma progress is great, but you need to get to integrating, especially if you don't have a dedicated. Do as many problems as you can get your hands on. Do Kaplan with USMLERx- they are of roughly equal quality and difficulty (imo) so I see no reason to save one for later like people do with Uworld.

I think the folks who have mad improvement over dedicated weren't grinding too hard before it. They had a lot of room to grow. If you hit dedicated with a lot of preparation behind you then peaking is a real possibility. In your case, since your school is psychotic and doesn't provide a true dedicated, you need to be carving out as much consistent work daily as you can. That said, you imply that you will have 40-55 hours a week to prep during your 'dedicated.' That's actually a lot, and you should be fine if you're focused and treat it like a job. Punch the clock, get it done, sleep, repeat.

Also, you make it sound like you are >3 months out from your exam with only a few thousand Zanki left and pathoma completed. Take a deep breath, because you are in a good spot and have a lot of time. If I was in your shoes, I would ignore school as much as possible closing in on the exam. The reality is, outside of failing, nothing you can be graded on in preclinicals will trump a solid step 1 score. Nothing. So prioritize it.

Pce

Edit: Maybe someone else can chime in so I'm not constantly giving medicineman advice? haha

Yea I have 5 months left. I tried completely ignoring school and nearly failed some areas (constant quizzes/tests very nonzanki/Rx related). I'll definitely do more Rx questions than focusing on news. Any recommendations on how you review the incorrects/info? Currently adding cards and just rereading I guess. Also, I was gonna "save" Kaplan by starting it right after Rx so I could just pay for the one month instead of 12 month lol.

Since @TheVagooseIsLoose asked for other people to chime in i will give it a shot.
1. How is your test taking skill in general?
If you have had issues with standardized testing before the best course of action would be to fix that, the only way I can think of is recreate the exam and do questions.
2. If you are having issues with content, then keep a relentless focus on zanki.
3. reach out to your school and ask if they have data to support performance in class and step one, if they dont , just pass your classes and focus on step.

Uworld, golijan audio do a great job of integration, but most of the time doing questions and thinking about things in a different light is usually a good way to integrate.

Looks like questions it is. I miss a few based on cold facts sometimes but mostly integration/2nd to 3rd orders the issue, just not used to it since we are all first order here. In terms of test taking, had a 2100+ sat score without really preparing at all and a 512~ mcat. Big mistakes come from being anxious and changing right to wrong or glossing over an important fact I find. Again, my school does a load of exams in frequency and super low yield so if I do the only zanki/qbank strat I risk not passing lol. Hoping with 5ish months left and thousands of questions I can be safe.

 

[libertyyne]

Yea I have 5 months left. I tried completely ignoring school and nearly failed some areas (constant quizzes/tests very nonzanki/Rx related). I'll definitely do more Rx questions than focusing on news. Any recommendations on how you review the incorrects/info? Currently adding cards and just rereading I guess. Also, I was gonna "save" Kaplan by starting it right after Rx so I could just pay for the one month instead of 12 month lol.


Looks like questions it is. I miss a few based on cold facts sometimes but mostly integration/2nd to 3rd orders the issue, just not used to it since we are all first order here. In terms of test taking, had a 2100+ sat score without really preparing at all and a 512~ mcat. Big mistakes come from being anxious and changing right to wrong or glossing over an important fact I find. Again, my school does a load of exams in frequency and super low yield so if I do the only zanki/qbank strat I risk not passing lol. Hoping with 5ish months left and thousands of questions I can be safe.

Why not cut your anki time in half and do questions during that time.

 

[TheVagüs]

Yea I have 5 months left. I tried completely ignoring school and nearly failed some areas (constant quizzes/tests very nonzanki/Rx related). I'll definitely do more Rx questions than focusing on news. Any recommendations on how you review the incorrects/info? Currently adding cards and just rereading I guess. Also, I was gonna "save" Kaplan by starting it right after Rx so I could just pay for the one month instead of 12 month lol.


Looks like questions it is. I miss a few based on cold facts sometimes but mostly integration/2nd to 3rd orders the issue, just not used to it since we are all first order here. In terms of test taking, had a 2100+ sat score without really preparing at all and a 512~ mcat. Big mistakes come from being anxious and changing right to wrong or glossing over an important fact I find. Again, my school does a load of exams in frequency and super low yield so if I do the only zanki/qbank strat I risk not passing lol. Hoping with 5ish months left and thousands of questions I can be safe.

I second libertyyne's advice above. Some quick math says you can do 25-30 new zanki cards a day and finish before your exam. That's a very small time commitment with plenty of room for other activities.

 

[FindersFee5]

Update: Finished Rx today at 84% overall. Buying Uworld soon and unreasonably excited.

Also hit 300k total reviews this week and sad I didn't screenshot at exactly 300,000.

Thinking about taking my first practice test this week. With the 3 new ones coming out + 18 + UWSA1/2, that's six total, and I'll probably end up taking 7-8 max. Should I take NBME 16 or 17 for this first test? I figured I'd drop 13 and 15 because they're the oldest.

 

[libertyyne]

Update: Finished Rx today at 84% overall. Buying Uworld soon and unreasonably excited.

Also hit 300k total reviews this week and sad I didn't screenshot at exactly 300,000.

Thinking about taking my first practice test this week. With the 3 new ones coming out + 18 + UWSA1/2, that's six total, and I'll probably end up taking 7-8 max. Should I take NBME 16 or 17 for this first test? I figured I'd drop 13 and 15 because they're the oldest.

you are killing it. Also how many cards do you do in a day , because I am only 140k in soo far.

 

[FindersFee5]

you are killing it. Also how many cards do you do in a day , because I am only 140k in soo far.

I've been averaging about 1K/day for the last 4 months or so, slowly escalating from a couple hundred/day when I first started last November. Have studied 364/365 days for the last year though and added about 80 new cards almost every day. Basically just very slow and steady.

 

[libertyyne]

I've been averaging about 1K/day for the last 4 months or so, slowly escalating from a couple hundred/day when I first started last November. Have studied 364/365 days for the last year though and added about 80 new cards almost every day. Basically just very slow and steady.

amazing. I reset my deck begining of M2 so only at 184/365 days .

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Update: Finished Rx today at 84% overall. Buying Uworld soon and unreasonably excited.

Also hit 300k total reviews this week and sad I didn't screenshot at exactly 300,000.

Thinking about taking my first practice test this week. With the 3 new ones coming out + 18 + UWSA1/2, that's six total, and I'll probably end up taking 7-8 max. Should I take NBME 16 or 17 for this first test? I figured I'd drop 13 and 15 because they're the oldest.

Numbers like that make me wish I had started hardcore using Zanki before October. Ugh.

Props tho! Yes take a practice test plz so I can vicariously live through your success & motivate myself to study harder. I'm betting - since it's only your first practice test - you'll hit 235+. Bet. BET. 235+ pre-UWorld son. Let's see it.

 

[libertyyne]

Numbers like that make me wish I had started hardcore using Zanki before October. Ugh.

Props tho! Yes take a practice test plz so I can vicariously live through your success & motivate myself to study harder. I'm betting - since it's only your first practice test - you'll hit 235+. Bet. BET. 235+ pre-UWorld son. Let's see it.

i would guess that @FindersFee5 is probably closer to 250 at this point since mere mortals like myself are hitting 230 pre uworld.

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

i would guess that @FindersFee5 is probably closer to 250 at this point since mere mortals like myself are hitting 230 pre uworld.

Dang nice! I was gunna say 240+ but I figured I'd come down to 235+ for 1st practice exam jitters & maybe not having timing down yet. Idk. Maybe every aspect of @FindersFee5 is as godly as his/her commitment to board studying & he/she doesn't even have the capacity to experience fear/anxiety.

 

[EMG123]

I've been reading this thread for years, and am excited/terrified to finally be participating! I'll post some of my stats below.

MS2 DO student
Top 25% of the class
Started using anki at the beginning of this year, hard to say how much I've actually done since I deleted some cards in favor of other resources and added cards for sketchy micro/pharm/path and OMM
School made us take a Combank diagnostic in January and I scored at 66% about 20% higher than the class average (Combank predicts that would correlate to about a 612, but I don't particularly trust them. Also it was nothing like UWorld.)
Best subjects: micro, anatomy, pharm
Worst subjects: physiology, endocrinology, biochem
Interested in going into anesthesia or radiology, but also have an interest in infectious disease
Test dates: May 20 (USMLE) and May 24 (COMLEX) with about 5 weeks of dedicated
Goal score: 230+

Good luck everyone, I'm excited to go on this journey with you!!

 

[FindersFee5]

Numbers like that make me wish I had started hardcore using Zanki before October. Ugh.

Props tho! Yes take a practice test plz so I can vicariously live through your success & motivate myself to study harder. I'm betting - since it's only your first practice test - you'll hit 235+. Bet. BET. 235+ pre-UWorld son. Let's see it.

I'd be thrilled with anything over 230 to start! I definitely feel like I have a lot of weak areas - I get like 80% of receptor type questions wrong, hate seeing congenital immunodeficiency problems, still don't think I've gotten a pharyngeal arch question right, etc...

I'm actually really excited to be starting dedicated soon when I can start hammering away at weaknesses only. Finally filling in these holes that I just haven't had the time to properly learn will feel really good.

 

[medicineman1234]

Why not cut your anki time in half and do questions during that time.

Yea I'm gonna shoot for 20-30 q's a day. Did a timed block today went a bit better! I think what really messed me up with timing is writing in the notes section so I can go back and see thought process but that's not how actual step 1 would be obv lol. Or taking 3 min on a q I didn't know b/c I knew it was untimed. Just curious does actual step 1 have a lab/notes section?

I second libertyyne's advice above. Some quick math says you can do 25-30 new zanki cards a day and finish before your exam. That's a very small time commitment with plenty of room for other activities.

yea I'll reduce news, problem is some of them are subjects learned a while back so it's like learning for first time. it's almost like a 1st pass

 

[Cawolf]

Yep those would both be the 6th. You can check if your permit disappeared to confirm your scores coming out this week

I just looked for fun for my permit, but it is gone and I took Step 1 on 2/22 - meaning I was expecting my score next Wednesday. My eligibility was until 3/31, any chance I get a score today?

Edit: Actually what does "permit disappearing" look like? My button is still there and can be clicked, but when I do I get a page that says "Application error: Permit is not available. The candidate may have sat for the exam or the registration is no longer active".

 

[12jas]

Should I take NBME 16 or 17 for this first test? I figured I'd drop 13 and 15 because they're the oldest.

I have the same question. I am looking at taking my first practice test this weekend and have heard NBME 13 is a good start but is not very similar to the real deal. With the new practice tests being released what should I take to establish a baseline any input would be appreciated?

 

[sunshinefl]

I have the same question. I am looking at taking my first practice test this weekend and have heard NBME 13 is a good start but is not very similar to the real deal. With the new practice tests being released what should I take to establish a baseline any input would be appreciated?

Personally I am also taking 13 this weekend (on spring break). I am ~108 days out. At the start of dedicated I am going to take 16. (I purchased both yesterday since they will be taken offline soon, but are good for 90 days).

 

[neurodjent]

Just giving an update here. School has been hectic this semester so I haven't made as much progress on zanki as I would like but next week is spring break and I am going to be doing a lot of catch up. Hopefully I will see 3k new cards while beating down my insane 11k+ reviews waiting for me.

For zanki I have 12k (31%) matured, 13k (34%) learning, and 13k left to see. I am coming to terms with the fact that I may not be able to see everything by dedicated but that's okay, I am doing the best I can.

I am 60% through uworld with 70% correct. I have also been sprinkling usmlerx into there with an overall average of 69% but most of that was from last semester when I was still figuring out how I wanted to use it. I have been averaging around 75-80% over the last 10 or so blocks of 10. Overall I have done 4700 practice questions between uworld, usmlerx, and both the usmle and comlex parts of combank.

Dedicated starts in 7.5 weeks and my test is in 16 weeks. I'm still hoping for that sweet sweet 240!