Score back yesterday and got a 253!
Through dedicated and even after taking Step 1 a couple weeks ago, probably checked SDN a little too much but I think it was just nice to see everyone helping each other out and working towards the common goal of understanding this beast of a test. This is my contribution back to the community that helped me stay sane (maybe?) throughout the process!
Background: I go to a Top 30 medical school and in my preclinical years (1.5 years at our school) did not do that hot and ended up in the bottom quartile. My clinical year was much better and I anticipate being above average. We take Step 1 after clinicals which would be equivalent to taking Step 1 during your second semester of 3rd year in a standard 2+2 curriculum. Got a 33-34 (~513-514) on the MCAT for what its worth.
Pre-dedicated: I started freaking out about 1 month before my dedicated because I had some sustained interest in some "competitive" fields and knew my class rank would not be amenable to doing those and wanted to make Step 1 into a sort of redemption. After creeping online, I saw everyone had been doing Zanki and started immediately doing Zanki and only got through biochem, CV, derm, and endocrine before I realized that although it was helpful in nailing down some concepts, I could not keep up with reviews and felt that I would only get marginal returns by doing so many cards over a short period of time. Since I had all my clinicals before Step 1, I had done the entirety of UWorld Step 2 and taken all the shelf exams with my last clinical rotation and shelf exam right before dedicated being internal medicine, which was super helpful.
Dedicated: I stayed with the classic UFAPS methodology and did not use any Zanki outside of my pre-dedicated freakout. I spent about 5.5 weeks in dedicated. I studied for about 12-14 hours a day but this varied as I got to the last week, during which it started getting much harder to stay focused since I was mostly reviewing at that point. Main resource was FA2018 in that I used it as a text book and tried to consolidate all my knowledge into it. I would go through a chapter, annotate with Pathoma/Sketchy Micro/Sketchy Pharm info, and add any random facts I would glean as I did UWorld blocks. I did this over the course of the first 3.5 weeks of dedicated in addition to doing 80-120 UWorld questions daily (timed, random, non-tutor) and making Anki cards for my incorrects only. I would review every block in its entirety but would mostly skim over my corrects unless I had guessed/didn't fully understand the questions. I reviewed these incorrect cards throughout dedicated. Also, google/wikipedia are your friends; if there is a topic you don't understand, highly recommend googling the topic and going directly to IMAGES to see if there is a nice picture or figure explaining it then go into regular search/wikipedia etc. Last two weeks I went back through FA, reviewed incorrects, watched a few Sketchy Path videos, and just mentally prepped for the exam. For some reason I thought I could also do 80-120 questions a day of USMLERx which I bought at the beginning of dedicated, I kept that up for all of 2 days before realizing I'm an idiot. Would not recommend trying to do 240 questions a day.
NBME 15: 221 (5.5 weeks out, right at the beginning of dedicated)
NBME 16: 234 (3.5 weeks out)
UWSA1: 266 (2.5 weeks out) --> I attribute this huge jump to having gone through the majority of UFAPS and more than 3/4ths of UWorld at this point.
NBME 19: 252 (2 weeks out)
NBME 17: 255 (1.5 weeks out)
NBME 18: 246 (1 week out)
UWSA2: 262 (4 days out)
Free 120: 88% (2 days out)
UWorld: 79% (86th percentile)
Predicted: 252 (95% CI 243-262; from reddit score predictor on r/step1)
Test Day/Post-test impression: Morning of the test, woke up a bit earlier and ran through the Rapid Review section of FA (there are some Anki flash cards for those floating around somewhere as well I think) over breakfast which was just a quick refresher. The real deal was tough but fair, and I definitely did not feel like I got hit by a train or anything. However, this "feeling" everyone has is so subjective and not a good indicator of anything meaningful in my opinion (I think it just helps people who have not taken the test yet gauge what to expect, especially when you read online how difficult the test is). I maybe had 3-5 questions on the whole test that were truly WTF but even of those I think everything was in UFAPS somewhere, but just asked in a very odd way. I felt there was a pretty even split of topics on the test. I did the test in a 3-2-2 split for the blocks because no matter how good you feel, you will start fatiguing and I just wanted to stay in rhythm early. I oddly felt that my first two blocks were quite easy and then steadily got harder throughout the day. Whether this was fatigue or the questions were actually getting harder, I don't know. Waiting for my score, I counted at least 20 confirmed incorrects (4 of which I changed from the right answer...) and 3-5 that I was on the fence about. The questions on Step 1 rarely try to trick you, so if a question seems too easy to be true or you have a feeling about an answer, go with it. The wait was tough, especially as my incorrect count went up but as many people have said TRUST YOUR ASSESSMENTS.
Good luck!
Thanks!
