USMLE Official 2019 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Wonder what to think about this: got a 246 on NBME 21 last week and a 246 on NBME 20 today. Any idea if that means some sort of improvement or not? Not sure what to make of this - really hoped to improve (obviously) but from what I understand 20 is harder than 21, but I guess that should reflect itself in the curve
I was about the same on those two as well. 240 on 20 and 242 on 21. Personally I didn't think 20 was any harder. They felt really similar to me.
 
What do people think is a good UW average to be getting at the beginning of dedicated for someone who is doing timed random blocks?
its all relative. If you are looking to score a 270+ probably an 85+. Most people I know have averages in the mid 60s for the entire thing.
 
its all relative. If you are looking to score a 270+ probably an 85+. Most people I know have averages in the mid 60s for the entire thing.

I have a hard time believing a 65% correlates to a 240, given UWorlds average is 63% and the National Average is 229
 
Uworld averages have crept to 89% since last post. ~94% over the past week. Got a 100% yesterday and today. I think it's time to move this bad boy up a week.

The fear of peaking is real. I think my class and zanki path knowledge are a huge boost, but I'm not reviewing either in dedicated. I don't want it to slip through my fingers. Practice test tomorrow to confirm progress. Any recommendations on which one to take for the most predictive value are appreciated.

Also that correlations chart above is super inflated.
 
I have a hard time believing a 65% correlates to a 240, given UWorlds average is 63% and the National Average is 229
262203

here is a more recent survey data. I mean IDK. this is th eonly information available. What percent of people dont buy uworld or complete uworld?
 
Would like to update a tiny bit and take any tips of course. Finished zanki a week or 2 ago with 65~% matured. Keeping up with reviews with a 80 day cap. Was doing Rx sporadically during this time and a bunch these past 3 weeks and % started being consistently at 75ish with 1400 questions done. I was worried since everyone said it was easy and my path and phys were lower than other sections, so I picked up Kaplan for hard questions and different style before I take my baseline in 1-2 weeks. However in the past 6 blocks of 40 on timed random I'm at 80+% and I'm not seeing the crazy questions people are talking about although it is showing knowledge gaps now and then. I'm hoping I'm not inflating my expectations since I originally aimed for a baseline of 210 after zanki but it feels good to be doing decently on a bank people consider to be harder than Rx since I was afraid all my zanki was for nothing or that Rx was too easy. Gonna do 120-160 questions a day until baseline+reviews.

What should I use as my baseline? Was thinking of nbme 13 or 15 but not sure. Thanks everyone it's been awesome getting support and seeing others in this thread kill it and hope I'll be there some day
 
Having a hard time accepting that UWSA1 only overpredicts by 10. Hit ~270 today with the same % correct as my qbank. I'd like to feel that this is representative but I have several friends that are getting similar qbank scores and I feel like many more people are doing Zanki and getting high qbank scores.

Does anyone else feel that there has been a massive score creep in just this past year? I feel like Zanki has been a significant disruptor, coupled with significant focus on step 1 and qbanks. Maybe it is just my school and this online community-- to be determined by test day results
 
Would like to update a tiny bit and take any tips of course. Finished zanki a week or 2 ago with 65~% matured. Keeping up with reviews with a 80 day cap. Was doing Rx sporadically during this time and a bunch these past 3 weeks and % started being consistently at 75ish with 1400 questions done. I was worried since everyone said it was easy and my path and phys were lower than other sections, so I picked up Kaplan for hard questions and different style before I take my baseline in 1-2 weeks. However in the past 6 blocks of 40 on timed random I'm at 80+% and I'm not seeing the crazy questions people are talking about although it is showing knowledge gaps now and then. I'm hoping I'm not inflating my expectations since I originally aimed for a baseline of 210 after zanki but it feels good to be doing decently on a bank people consider to be harder than Rx since I was afraid all my zanki was for nothing or that Rx was too easy. Gonna do 120-160 questions a day until baseline+reviews.

What should I use as my baseline? Was thinking of nbme 13 or 15 but not sure. Thanks everyone it's been awesome getting support and seeing others in this thread kill it and hope I'll be there some day
i had a similar jump in scores going from rx to kaplan, 75 to low 80s. I think kaplan tests tougher concepts and makes you do a lot of mental hoop jumping in comparison to rx which felt very "do you know this one line in FA" to me. But thats just IMO, sounds like youre doing well keep it up!

Any of them are fine for baseline, just save uwsa 2 nbme 18 and the free 120 for last. Everything else i feel the order doesnt matter
 
i had a similar jump in scores going from rx to kaplan, 75 to low 80s. I think kaplan tests tougher concepts and makes you do a lot of mental hoop jumping in comparison to rx which felt very "do you know this one line in FA" to me. But thats just IMO, sounds like youre doing well keep it up!

Any of them are fine for baseline, just save uwsa 2 nbme 18 and the free 120 for last. Everything else i feel the order doesnt matter
Thanks. What did you use as your baseline? Just curious
 
Took NBME 23. This is by far the hardest one I've solved so far. I marked around 60 questions in the whole test, that's almost 1 out of every 3 - and consider I'm not very generous with marking. For comparison, I think I had 10-12 marked in NBME 17.

I 've done 2 simulations so far (an NBME followed by 2 UW blocks). This time I just solved the NBME by itself and it was more tiring than the times I did the simulation, even though it was 80Qs less. Stamina can really become a limiting factor if the actual test is hard overall.

I'm really glad I took this one, cause I definitely would not want to have this kind of experience on test day for the first time AND be forced to wait till July 10th for the results. At least now I'm somewhat mentally prepared for that scenario.

I noticed a trend of topics being repeated over and over across different blocks (I lost count of spinal cord transverse sections) and a big amount of ethics. A lot of Qs seem to be somewhat intuitive/conceptual and in a lot of them I had the feeling that more studying would not help me solve them in any kind of way and it was just more of a mental puzzle.

The comparison with the real deal will definitely be interesting.
 
Took NBME 23. This is by far the hardest one I've solved so far. I marked around 60 questions in the whole test, that's almost 1 out of every 3 - and consider I'm not very generous with marking. For comparison, I think I had 10-12 marked in NBME 17.

I 've done 2 simulations so far (an NBME followed by 2 UW blocks). This time I just solved the NBME by itself and it was more tiring than the times I did the simulation, even though it was 80Qs less. Stamina can really become a limiting factor if the actual test is hard overall.

I'm really glad I took this one, cause I definitely would not want to have this kind of experience on test day for the first time AND be forced to wait till July 10th for the results. At least now I'm somewhat mentally prepared for that scenario.

I noticed a trend of topics being repeated over and over across different blocks (I lost count of spinal cord transverse sections) and a big amount of ethics. A lot of Qs seem to be somewhat intuitive/conceptual and in a lot of them I had the feeling that more studying would not help me solve them in any kind of way and it was just more of a mental puzzle.

The comparison with the real deal will definitely be interesting.
and honestly I was wondering how you scored on 23 since you've been crushing the other tests. is the curve better or you think it hit your weaknesses?
 
and honestly I was wondering how you scored on 23 since you've been crushing the other tests. is the curve better or you think it hit your weaknesses?

263. Needless to say it exceeded my expectations. Did not count the number of mistakes yet, but I will update this post once I do. The curve has to be more generous than the previous ones though in order to adjust for the difficulty.

Edit: 15 mistakes. The curve is really generous and it's not without a reason.
 
Last edited:
Curious to get opinions. I'm finishing my first pass of UWorld this week; I'm 6.5 weeks out from my Step date as of right now. I have 900+ Anki cards based off of incorrects I have been making since January. I am debating on the following:

(1) Using the following week (not this week, but the week after this week; 5 weeks before my exam) to go through my Incorrect questions in UWorld + do my incorrect Zanki cards (should be able to K/O probably 3/4 of the cards in a week dedicated to this realistically.) This would leave me 4 weeks do to a second pass of UWorld & do whatever else once I'm done.

(2) Immediately reset UWorld & begin 2nd pass while gradually working through my UWorld incorrect Anki deck. I only worry about this b/c I don't know if I would get through all of my incorrect Anki deck by the time I sit for step, & if I don't it means I kinda wasted my time making the deck.

Side note: establishing my baseline with NBME 15 tomorrow. Nervous as hell. Really hoping the hours of spacebar pressing this past year pay off.
 
Took NBME 23. This is by far the hardest one I've solved so far. I marked around 60 questions in the whole test, that's almost 1 out of every 3 - and consider I'm not very generous with marking. For comparison, I think I had 10-12 marked in NBME 17.

I 've done 2 simulations so far (an NBME followed by 2 UW blocks). This time I just solved the NBME by itself and it was more tiring than the times I did the simulation, even though it was 80Qs less. Stamina can really become a limiting factor if the actual test is hard overall.

I'm really glad I took this one, cause I definitely would not want to have this kind of experience on test day for the first time AND be forced to wait till July 10th for the results. At least now I'm somewhat mentally prepared for that scenario.

I noticed a trend of topics being repeated over and over across different blocks (I lost count of spinal cord transverse sections) and a big amount of ethics. A lot of Qs seem to be somewhat intuitive/conceptual and in a lot of them I had the feeling that more studying would not help me solve them in any kind of way and it was just more of a mental puzzle.

The comparison with the real deal will definitely be interesting.

A few people on Reddit that just tested said they felt like the real thing was a lot harder than the old NBMEs, but easier than the new ones. One of them said they had 3 repeats straight off of NBME 23/24. I really hope the bolded is true on the real thing, I am so much better with those types of questions compared to the straight minutia recall off of the old NBMEs.
 
A few people on Reddit that just tested said they felt like the real thing was a lot harder than the old NBMEs, but easier than the new ones. One of them said they had 3 repeats straight off of NBME 23/24. I really hope the bolded is true on the real thing, I am so much better with those types of questions compared to the straight minutia recall off of the old NBMEs.
Which makes sense considering most people walk out saying it felt most similar to uworld. Hopefully that’s the case for me tomorrow! I’ll let y’all know how it felt after I get done (probably Tuesday due to adult beverages)
 
So do you guys actually go in person to take the 120 or just do it at home?
I think I’m going to go in person if possible then just run thru it again once home to review it.

People have mentioned repeats from the 120 on the real deal. Also you get maybe 1-2 extra questions doing it this way from what I’ve read.

This is all purely based on reddit anecdotes
 
I think I’m going to go in person if possible then just run thru it again once home to review it.

People have mentioned repeats from the 120 on the real deal. Also you get maybe 1-2 extra questions doing it this way from what I’ve read.

This is all purely based on reddit anecdotes
It’s not worth it. You have to pay like $60 to do the 120. Just do a drive by of the testing center the day before if you want to get a feel for the place.
 
It’s not worth it. You have to pay like $60 to do the 120. Just do a drive by of the testing center the day before if you want to get a feel for the place.
Alternative opinion: Spend the $60 and get a feel for what the test day will be like. Doing a drive by of the testing center is not the same as going through the entire process of checking in and taking the test on their computer.
 
Curious to get opinions. I'm finishing my first pass of UWorld this week; I'm 6.5 weeks out from my Step date as of right now. I have 900+ Anki cards based off of incorrects I have been making since January. I am debating on the following:

(1) Using the following week (not this week, but the week after this week; 5 weeks before my exam) to go through my Incorrect questions in UWorld + do my incorrect Zanki cards (should be able to K/O probably 3/4 of the cards in a week dedicated to this realistically.) This would leave me 4 weeks do to a second pass of UWorld & do whatever else once I'm done.

(2) Immediately reset UWorld & begin 2nd pass while gradually working through my UWorld incorrect Anki deck. I only worry about this b/c I don't know if I would get through all of my incorrect Anki deck by the time I sit for step, & if I don't it means I kinda wasted my time making the deck.

Side note: establishing my baseline with NBME 15 tomorrow. Nervous as hell. Really hoping the hours of spacebar pressing this past year pay off.

IMO i'd just start the second pass, that way you can test if you really knew the concepts behind your incorrects vs just memorizing the stem/answer! plus you dont wanna be too pressed for time to finish 2800 qs in 28 days. Can take a day off of questions if you need to kinda thing. I dont think making a deck and not using it is a complete waste of time, typing/writing stuff out in your own worlds is better than just reading it. I honestly dont even plan on using my incorrect deck its just turned into a sort of note pad I can search through (would probably be better for me to switch to a word document at this point lol).
 
Thought I would try to study today but I think I'm just gonna have a drink. The moment I crack FA I'm just gonna think about all the stuff I think I forgot. I'm guessing most people feel like they are hemorrhaging information the day before their exam, so I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing that I feel that way haha. Praying I'm just somewhat close to my practice exams. 94% on Free 120 yesterday so I am guessing I can't lose too much in a couple days lol.

Best of luck to all taking it this week. Raising a glass to being done soon. We're locked and loaded, it's time to take it to:

262469

:laugh:
 
IMO i'd just start the second pass, that way you can test if you really knew the concepts behind your incorrects vs just memorizing the stem/answer! plus you dont wanna be too pressed for time to finish 2800 qs in 28 days. Can take a day off of questions if you need to kinda thing. I dont think making a deck and not using it is a complete waste of time, typing/writing stuff out in your own worlds is better than just reading it. I honestly dont even plan on using my incorrect deck its just turned into a sort of note pad I can search through (would probably be better for me to switch to a word document at this point lol).

I like it.

In hindsight idk why I didn't just start a word document like wtf lol. My optimistic self in January thought I would be able to keep up with my incorrect cards through the semester. Was incredibly wrong. Got buried alive.
 
20 point drop from NBME 16 to NBME 20 in one week !!!

Very little Board study pre dedicated. Completed about 800 USMLE RX questions during 2nd year.
Just completed my 2nd week of dedicated. Currently reading FA and Pathoma along with Sketchy micro. Completed approx 30% of First Run of UW along with reading corresponding sections of FA. UW percentage is approx 75% ( I know it is a bit inflated because I am not doing random blocks yet). I will complete first run of FA in a week. After that I will switch to random blocks of UW. I am taking notes as I review UW blocks.
NBME 15. 223. Baseline pre dedicated (10 weeks out and I took it while I was under stress)
I have 8 weeks of dedicated time.
NBME 16 248 181/200. 90.5% ( wk 1)
NBME 20. 228 150/200. 75%. ( wk 2)
I found NBME 16 quite straight forward but in NBME 20 I made some silly mistakes and some of the things I have not covered in FA and Pathoma yet. It was definitely much harder.
Please guide what changes I should make going forward. Taking step 1 on 6/22.

Thank you!
 
20 point drop from NBME 16 to NBME 20 in one week !!!

Very little Board study pre dedicated. Completed about 800 USMLE RX questions during 2nd year.
Just completed my 2nd week of dedicated. Currently reading FA and Pathoma along with Sketchy micro. Completed approx 30% of First Run of UW along with reading corresponding sections of FA. UW percentage is approx 75% ( I know it is a bit inflated because I am not doing random blocks yet). I will complete first run of FA in a week. After that I will switch to random blocks of UW. I am taking notes as I review UW blocks.
NBME 15. 223. Baseline pre dedicated (10 weeks out and I took it while I was under stress)
I have 8 weeks of dedicated time.
NBME 16 248 181/200. 90.5% ( wk 1)
NBME 20. 228 150/200. 75%. ( wk 2)
I found NBME 16 quite straight forward but in NBME 20 I made some silly mistakes and some of the things I have not covered in FA and Pathoma yet. It was definitely much harder.
Please guide what changes I should make going forward. Taking step 1 on 6/22.

Thank you!
For very little board study that's an impressive baseline. Did you take 15 offline?
 
What is the correlation between Free 117 and actual step performance? I have been getting in the 240's recently for practices tests (236 on 23, 244 on 21 and 18, 254 on UWSA2) but today got a 78% on Free 120. I am two days away from my exam and I feel like that Free 120 score is a doozey. I finished UWorld with a 74% correct and an upward trend with 80% or better on most blocks in the last two weeks of study.
 
What is the correlation between Free 117 and actual step performance? I have been getting in the 240's recently for practices tests (236 on 23, 244 on 21 and 18, 254 on UWSA2) but today got a 78% on Free 120. I am two days away from my exam and I feel like that Free 120 score is a doozey. I finished UWorld with a 74% correct and an upward trend with 80% or better on most blocks in the last two weeks of study.
Did you use anki and did you use the bluegalaxies addon?
 
It's an anki deck. Nevermind my question then
Are you thinking it inflated? Bc I'm somehow doing pretty well on Kaplan too these days despite people saying it's relatively harder than Rx anyway. Like I only zankiid but I somehow stumble into alright %s on qbanks hoping my baseline isn't bad this Sunday. 400 Q's in at 79%ish and tentatively hoping I can get a 220-225 on nbme 15 or something before starting uworld
 
Are you thinking it inflated? Bc I'm somehow doing pretty well on Kaplan too these days despite people saying it's relatively harder than Rx anyway. Like I only zankiid but I somehow stumble into alright %s on qbanks hoping my baseline isn't bad this Sunday. 400 Q's in at 79%ish and tentatively hoping I can get a 220-225 on nbme 15 or something before starting uworld
idk i mean i'm at 83% uworld and I used zanki but on the other hand i've been getting high 240s on the practice tests. maybe it isn't a knowledge problem for you it's a stamina thing. are your questions missed realtively equal by block or towards the end?
 
Damn just took NBME 21 and got the same score as NBME 20 (225) which I took 10 days ago. The two Uworld blocks I did after were 75%/80% though.

I haven't reviewed yet, but pretty disappointing as I was hoping for a ~10 point improvement from the last test. Only positive I see is that my test is in 5 weeks, but major blow to my confidence for sure
 
Last edited:
Sorry if this is not the right place to post: feel free to move

Is moving the actual date up by a few days a good idea? I'm totally getting burnt out, pretty happy with my scores lately, and feel like I have reached my peak:
Original goal: 240
CBSE: 220 (5 wks)
22: 223 (4 wks)
21: 240 (2.5 wks)
UW1: 258 (2 wks)
20: 250 (2 days ago)
18: 252 (today-5/13)
UW2: Considering taking it tomorrow after hopefully reviewing 18- I can't look at Anki without contempt right now (my only study source essentially) I just want questions at this point.

Test scheduled for 5/23, want to move it 5/20 (only open earlier date in my area)

Here's the meat/potatoes: I have a 3 y/o son and a ~2 month old baby boy that I would love to enjoy a few extra days of freedom with. Not to mention my wife, who has been so understanding of these past few weeks. Luckily she's on maternity leave, but the whole situation is going about as well as you could imagine with a toddler and a newborn. I essentially start rotations the week after Step, so a extra few days to enjoy with my family would be worth more than a few extra points (if that is/was even possible). Any advice appreciated from this crowd-TIA
 
Sorry if this is not the right place to post: feel free to move

Is moving the actual date up by a few days a good idea? I'm totally getting burnt out, pretty happy with my scores lately, and feel like I have reached my peak:
Original goal: 240
CBSE: 220 (5 wks)
22: 223 (4 wks)
21: 240 (2.5 wks)
UW1: 258 (2 wks)
20: 250 (2 days ago)
18: 252 (today-5/13)
UW2: Considering taking it tomorrow after hopefully reviewing 18- I can't look at Anki without contempt right now (my only study source essentially) I just want questions at this point.

Test scheduled for 5/23, want to move it 5/20 (only open earlier date in my area)

Here's the meat/potatoes: I have a 3 y/o son and a ~2 month old baby boy that I would love to enjoy a few extra days of freedom with. Not to mention my wife, who has been so understanding of these past few weeks. Luckily she's on maternity leave, but the whole situation is going about as well as you could imagine with a toddler and a newborn. I essentially start rotations the week after Step, so a extra few days to enjoy with my family would be worth more than a few extra points (if that is/was even possible). Any advice appreciated from this crowd-TIA
Move that bad boy up
 
Sorry if this is not the right place to post: feel free to move

Is moving the actual date up by a few days a good idea? I'm totally getting burnt out, pretty happy with my scores lately, and feel like I have reached my peak:
Original goal: 240
CBSE: 220 (5 wks)
22: 223 (4 wks)
21: 240 (2.5 wks)
UW1: 258 (2 wks)
20: 250 (2 days ago)
18: 252 (today-5/13)
UW2: Considering taking it tomorrow after hopefully reviewing 18- I can't look at Anki without contempt right now (my only study source essentially) I just want questions at this point.

Test scheduled for 5/23, want to move it 5/20 (only open earlier date in my area)

Here's the meat/potatoes: I have a 3 y/o son and a ~2 month old baby boy that I would love to enjoy a few extra days of freedom with. Not to mention my wife, who has been so understanding of these past few weeks. Luckily she's on maternity leave, but the whole situation is going about as well as you could imagine with a toddler and a newborn. I essentially start rotations the week after Step, so a extra few days to enjoy with my family would be worth more than a few extra points (if that is/was even possible). Any advice appreciated from this crowd-TIA

100% move it up. You said yourself that you are getting burnt out and you feel like you have reached your peak. Since you are sitting around 250, I don't know that 3 extra days would make a big difference in your score especially since you are getting burnt out.
 
Top