USMLE Official 2019 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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wonko said:
Well that was a ****show.

Came in thinking I had a stab at 250 (reddit predictor placed me there). I had a computer failure and by block 4 a full blown migraine. Wouldn;t be surprised if I failed. Taking that everyone feels shotty after this into consideration, I am expecting a 210-220.

Ugh. Hope the triptans kick in soon.
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Trust your scores, you def crushed it! Everyone feels like this after, you deserve to enjoy some time off. Congrats on making it through the sh** show.

Once youve rested and taken some time off, any test day tips youd think would be valuable to know? (Signing in, breaks, snacks, etc)
 
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TheaterOfTheme said:
Damn--Judging on your performances in the past I'd doubt that. Forget about this BS for now. How did they remedy the computer failure?
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They tinkered around with the computer for a while. then it rebooted, they had to get a code from somewhere and figure it out and then it let me back in again. Don't think I lost time, but it took 10-15min total.
medicineman1234 said:
They say trust the scores, who knows what will happen. I hope you are like those others who thought they failed then killed it
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I hope you're right. But migraines are a killer for focus, so IDK. Caught at least one thing in the review where I had chosen something that was decreased while the Q asked for increased. Hope I didn't miss more of those.
 
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Scrubs101 said:
Trust your scores, you def crushed it! Everyone feels like this after, you deserve to enjoy some time off. Congrats on making it through the sh** show.

Once youve rested and taken some time off, any test day tips youd think would be valuable to know? (Signing in, breaks, snacks, etc)
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It's pretty chill. Lost zero time during the signing in/out. They let you start as soon as they have two staffmembers there (my apt was at 9, I started at 7:45). I brought plenty of snacks but barely ate anything. They have free mints in my location, which was nice. The headphones are really bad, but you don't really need them most of the time. also the locker is REALLY small. Just put my Meds in there, backpack was too big.

The breaks were different than I thought: you have 45 min total breaks whenever, however you like between blocks. IF you finish a block early, it adds to your break time.

For the bowel people: My testing center only had one single stall. There was quite a competition over it. Be prepared.
 
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@wonko anything from a knowledge/test taking perspective that caught you off guard?

Anything different in your prep you think would have made a difference or is this test just a **** show you really can’t prep for?
 
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Frogger27 said:
@wonko anything from a knowledge/test taking perspective that caught you off guard?

Anything different in your prep you think would have made a difference or is this test just a **** show you really can’t prep for?
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Meh, there were lots of feeder questions that were pretty easy. Couple of "I don't even know what the question is " moments too. In general, the form I had focused quite heavily on one specific organ system which I did not care too much for.
 
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wonko said:
Meh, there were lots of feeder questions that were pretty easy. Couple of "I don't even know what the question is " moments too. In general, the form I had focused quite heavily on one specific organ system which I did not care too much for.
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Yeah thats an unfortunate part of this whole thing, a little bit of luck of the draw.

Anyways, Congrats on being done and hoping for the best for you!
 
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I would also look into L-theanine. I pop 200mg an hour before bed, or 2 hours if i'm on a full stomach. Works great, and it's not a medication or anything with hangover effects. You can get it at any vitamin supplement store.
 
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So finally got back home after taking it, trying not to get too excited but I feel pretty good about it, which isn't the norm so it's making me nervous. I know I missed a gimme MOA pharm question and a few others I should have gotten 🙄 but there were a couple other tricky ones that I caught when I was going over my flagged at the end of the blocks that I think will trip up a number of people if they weren't careful and made the same mistake I did initially on those questions.

I think doing 10k practice questions really helped, on top of Anki, as there probably wasn't more than 10 questions or so that were on topics I hadn't seen before in some form or another. The stuff that wasn't in UFAP wasn't really stuff you could prepare for, just kind of "in the moment can you figure this out" type stuff. A few WTF type questions where I couldn't even eliminate a single answer, I convinced myself these were experimental. UWorld was probably the best study tool honestly, even more important that Anki. The questions were nothing like the NBME's, at least I felt anyway, and a lot more like UW except without the second distractor that UW has that is always very close to the real answer. As for timing it wasn't any different for me than the UWSAs or NBMEs, I finished every block with 15+ minutes left with plenty of time to review my flagged/skipped over questions. Oh and I know people say don't review the day before your test but my "I can't sleep so I'm going to flip through the biochem section of FA" last night got me 2 questions, so take that as you will.

Overall I would say it was a very fair test and people should trust their prep. I'm cautiously optimistic about my score but who knows, either way it's over and now I get to cram some last minute OMM for the COMPOOP on Friday, yay.
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
So finally got back home after taking it, trying not to get too excited but I feel pretty good about it, which isn't the norm so it's making me nervous. I know I missed a gimme MOA pharm question and a few others I should have gotten 🙄 but there were a couple other tricky ones that I caught when I was going over my flagged at the end of the blocks that I think will trip up a number of people if they weren't careful and made the same mistake I did initially on those questions.

I think doing 10k practice questions really helped, on top of Anki, as there probably wasn't more than 10 questions or so that were on topics I hadn't seen before in some form or another. The stuff that wasn't in UFAP wasn't really stuff you could prepare for, just kind of "in the moment can you figure this out" type stuff. A few WTF type questions where I couldn't even eliminate a single answer, I convinced myself these were experimental. UWorld was probably the best study tool honestly, even more important that Anki. The questions were nothing like the NBME's, at least I felt anyway, and a lot more like UW except without the second distractor that UW has that is always very close to the real answer. As for timing it wasn't any different for me than the UWSAs or NBMEs, I finished every block with 15+ minutes left with plenty of time to review my flagged/skipped over questions. Oh and I know people say don't review the day before your test but my "I can't sleep so I'm going to flip through the biochem section of FA" last night got me 2 questions, so take that as you will.

Overall I would say it was a very fair test and people should trust their prep. I'm cautiously optimistic about my score but who knows, either way it's over and now I get to cram some last minute OMM for the COMPOOP on Friday, yay.
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lol so happy to see someone actually admit to this. Bless all you people who don't/say you won't be looking at anything the day before your test, but theres not way i'd be able to do that. Too much anxiety and little things I need to cram in my head last minute

Edit: Oh and congraats on being done! good luck on COMPOOP
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
The questions were nothing like the NBME's, at least I felt anyway, and a lot more like UW except without the second distractor that UW has that is always very close to the real answer.
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If the NBME questions aren't similar to the actual test, what's really the point in doing them except as an assessment tool?
There's a big opportunity cost in terms of time and mental energy to do an NBME. Unless your score is going to change the way you study, why bother?

I still haven't done a practice test yet, just UW+anki every day until my eyes bleed. At this point I'm 50% done with UW, 83% correct and trending up. At 100q/day, I'll finish UW with ~5 days of wiggle room. I feel like I'd rather spend those extra days getting in some focused review on weaknesses rather than doing an NBME for funsies.

Thoughts on ditching the NBME's completely, and just doing UWSA1 -> UWSA2 -> free 120 in my last week before the test?
 
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Gurby said:
If the NBME questions aren't similar to the actual test, what's really the point in doing them except as an assessment tool?
There's a big opportunity cost in terms of time and mental energy to do an NBME. Unless your score is going to change the way you study, why bother?

I still haven't done a practice test yet, just UW+anki every day until my eyes bleed. At this point I'm 50% done with UW, 83% correct and trending up. At 100q/day, I'll finish UW with ~5 days of wiggle room. I feel like I'd rather spend those extra days getting in some focused review on weaknesses rather than doing an NBME for funsies.

Thoughts on ditching the NBME's completely, and just doing UWSA1 -> UWSA2 -> free 120 in my last week before the test?
Click to expand...

Was literally about to ask the same question. I have 13 days until my test.. only NBME I have left was 24 (+ UWSA2 and free 120), but I am thinking of scrapping it because I think a full day of studying would be more advantageous.

definitely would like to hear what people other people think
 
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Frogger27 said:
Was literally about to ask the same question. I have 13 days until my test.. only NBME I have left was 24 (+ UWSA2 and free 120), but I am thinking of scrapping it because I think a full day of studying would be more advantageous.

definitely would like to hear what people other people think
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It’s been satisfying to see my scores creep up and have more of an idea of what I’m struggling with, but if you’re already high up there score wise it won’t do as much for you. If I were you I’d scrap it and keep chugging along.

I’m the epitome of “started from the bottom” when it comes to scoring haha especially on here. So to keep rising at incremental levels has been beneficial to me motivation wise
 
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If you only take one nbme, I’d take 18. Not because its super magically predictive or anything or well written. But because its old enough that it’s easiest to find answers. I found a PDF for it on reddit that had explanations with material from FA listed in the explanations. When I reviewed 23, I just had to mindlessly search the inter webs hoping someone was dumb enough to have missed the same questions as me. Not worth the time IMO.
 
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Gurby said:
If the NBME questions aren't similar to the actual test, what's really the point in doing them except as an assessment tool?
There's a big opportunity cost in terms of time and mental energy to do an NBME. Unless your score is going to change the way you study, why bother?

I still haven't done a practice test yet, just UW+anki every day until my eyes bleed. At this point I'm 50% done with UW, 83% correct and trending up. At 100q/day, I'll finish UW with ~5 days of wiggle room. I feel like I'd rather spend those extra days getting in some focused review on weaknesses rather than doing an NBME for funsies.

Thoughts on ditching the NBME's completely, and just doing UWSA1 -> UWSA2 -> free 120 in my last week before the test?
Click to expand...

Well the way some stuff is described is similar, a lot of the same descriptors used. Some graphs and other images were the exact same, but with different questions. I also think that event though they aren't representative I think they really do give you a general ballpark of where you are at score wise. Purely based on how I felt during the test, which could be COMPLETELY off base, is I wouldn't be surprised if the actual scale isn't very similar to that of the new NBMEs where a 240 is like ~80% give or take. I used to scoff at the idea of someone getting a raw score of 90%+ on Step, but now I can easily see how someone who is on their game and has a deep pool of knowledge can ace that test.

Personally I got an extra 2k questions out of the NBMEs, which is probably where the biggest value is i.e, the practice of simply answering more questions.
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
Well the way some stuff is described is similar, a lot of the same descriptors used. Some graphs and other images were the exact same, but with different questions. I also think that event though they aren't representative I think they really do give you a general ballpark of where you are at score wise. Purely based on how I felt during the test, which could be COMPLETELY off base, is I wouldn't be surprised if the actual scale isn't very similar to that of the new NBMEs where a 240 is like ~80% give or take. I used to scoff at the idea of someone getting a raw score of 90%+ on Step, but now I can easily see how someone who is on their game and has a deep pool of knowledge can ace that test.

Personally I got an extra 2k questions out of the NBMEs, which is probably where the biggest value is i.e, the practice of simply answering more questions.
Click to expand...

Wish I had time to answer 2k more questions 😢

I guess I'll pick 1 NBME to squeeze in then...

Might be worthwhile to find the offline versions of old tests and skim through the questions involving graphs/diagrams?
 
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Gurby said:
If the NBME questions aren't similar to the actual test, what's really the point in doing them except as an assessment tool?
There's a big opportunity cost in terms of time and mental energy to do an NBME. Unless your score is going to change the way you study, why bother?

I still haven't done a practice test yet, just UW+anki every day until my eyes bleed. At this point I'm 50% done with UW, 83% correct and trending up. At 100q/day, I'll finish UW with ~5 days of wiggle room. I feel like I'd rather spend those extra days getting in some focused review on weaknesses rather than doing an NBME for funsies.

Thoughts on ditching the NBME's completely, and just doing UWSA1 -> UWSA2 -> free 120 in my last week before the test?
Click to expand...
This is my plan.
 
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Gurby said:
Wish I had time to answer 2k more questions 😢

I guess I'll pick 1 NBME to squeeze in then...

Might be worthwhile to find the offline versions of old tests and skim through the questions involving graphs/diagrams?
Click to expand...

To the bolded, nah I wouldn't do it.

I would pick NBME 18. I do think it is likely the most predictive still, at least until we get more data on the new ones.

Edit: This is all just my opinion based on the last few weeks and how I felt like it went today. Who knows, I might have gotten a 210 and be way off base so take everything I say with a grain of salt lol
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
Personally I got an extra 2k questions out of the NBMEs, which is probably where the biggest value is i.e, the practice of simply answering more questions.
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600$ for 2k NBME questions though, man are we getting robbed. UW costs less, has more qs, has explanations, in depth tracking systems and score reports, AND is more like the real thing. Bruhh the NBME is out here pulling in loads of cash for supplying the worst low effort content possible and we just buy it up like its nothing.

Talk about paying for the brand, nbme just charges whatever they want and we’ll pay it. Its like slapping a gucci logo on a plain white T and charging a grand for it. We’re getting swindled
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
To the bolded, nah I wouldn't do it.

I would pick NBME 18. I do think it is likely the most predictive still, at least until we get more data on the new ones.

Edit: This is all just my opinion based on the last few weeks and how I felt like it went today. Who knows, I might have gotten a 210 and be way off base so take everything I say with a grain of salt lol
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After taking the real deal, what is a better q bank to use in your opinion before starting uworld? Rx or kap?
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
Kaplan. It at least makes you think. Rx is still too "did you memorize this one line in FA" for my taste.
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Would you recommend buying an additional question bank besides UWorld? I start M2 in August and I was planning on getting UW at the beginning of the year. Our curriculum is designed so that we are done learning content after next semester and spring semester is supposed to be mostly review for boards (TBD if that actually occurs, I have no faith that they won't try and fill the spring with useless BS). Should I hold off on UW until after the fall semester and use another question bank then or get UW at the beginning of the year and just start with questions over things we have already covered?
 
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GoCards05 said:
Would you recommend buying an additional question bank besides UWorld? I start M2 in August and I was planning on getting UW at the beginning of the year. Our curriculum is designed so that we are done learning content after next semester and spring semester is supposed to be mostly review for boards (TBD if that actually occurs, I have no faith that they won't try and fill the spring with useless BS). Should I hold off on UW until after the fall semester and use another question bank then or get UW at the beginning of the year and just start with questions over things we have already covered?
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I would start UWorld a month or so before dedicated. I mean Rx isn't bad if you use it more as a way to hammer FA and not as a representative sample. I think Kaplan is a better way to learn how to think and approach questions
 
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I've done 11 blocks of uworld so far and my scores literally have not changed at all lmao. And when I finish blocks I still feel like I failed hard but end up ok-ish. I literally float mid 75~ on like every test without fail. Saw someone say uworld gives lots of info but trickier questions while nbmes give lot less info which if that's the case I'm toast because I feel like in a paragraph of information I sometimes get one or two facts to confirm an answer, not like knowing everything in the stem. I'm gonna take nbme 15 this week to make sure I'm not getting a false sense of security from being the buzzword king..(plebian).
 
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NecrotizingFasciitis said:
I've been having a lot of trouble getting to bed at a decent time the past couple weeks & was thinking about trying melatonin for the first time. I heard it gives you some pretty crazy dreams though depending on the person that takes it? Did you experience any of this? Or any kind of like excessive morning grogginess?
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Didn't have any crazy dreams and actually felt more refreshed the morning after, didn't have any morning grogginess
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
Lol well I was feeling so good after the test yesterday but now I have remembered 4 questions I know I missed, one of them is haunting me because it was a straight up gimme.... I am going to be a nervous wreck for 4 weeks 😕
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I remembered questions that I missed too and I was like "what if" for a day or two, but then I came to realize that:
1) there's nothing you can do to change that, so why worry about things we have no control over
2) almost everyone (or many would say everyone) has missed questions they knew or could have gotten right under other circumstances.

We tend to forget that the procedure of taking the test itself is big part of the game. We 're getting graded based on a curve that was shaped by people taking the test under these special circumstances. The grand majority of people taking the test are somewhat underslept, maybe burnt out and definitely more anxious compared to when they were solving UWorld in the comfort of their homes. And solving 7 blocks back to back under those circumstances is also no joke. It's only natural that most test takers will make some kind of mistake that they would otherwise avoid. Maybe this explains why everyone is feeling bad after the test and ends up scoring high.
 
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NecrotizingFasciitis said:
I've been having a lot of trouble getting to bed at a decent time the past couple weeks & was thinking about trying melatonin for the first time. I heard it gives you some pretty crazy dreams though depending on the person that takes it? Did you experience any of this? Or any kind of like excessive morning grogginess?
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I took 3mg melatonin last night, trying to adjust to going to bed earlier. I did actually have some amazingly vivid dreams last night! Maybe it was just a REM rebound since my sleep the past few days has been mediocre.
 
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Gurby said:
I took 3mg melatonin last night, trying to adjust to going to bed earlier. I did actually have some amazingly vivid dreams last night! Maybe it was just a REM rebound since my sleep the past few days has been mediocre.
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Yea the first few times I took melatonin, I also had unusual dreams and didn’t sleep very well but I think my body got used to it over time.
 
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Would it be super dumb to take NBME 18 next week Tuesday? I'm exactly 3 weeks out right now. I would normally save it for the last week of my studies but it expires Tuesday night (I was excited to plan my dedicated out & bought NBME 18 early... I don't know why ok) & I'm guessing the NBME wouldn't let me extend for a week or two for free 'cause they love $$$ so much.
 
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NecrotizingFasciitis said:
Would it be super dumb to take NBME 18 next week Tuesday? I'm exactly 3 weeks out right now. I would normally save it for the last week of my studies but it expires Tuesday night (I was excited to plan my dedicated out & bought NBME 18 early... I don't know why ok) & I'm guessing the NBME wouldn't let me extend for a week or two for free 'cause they love $$$ so much.
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Why don't you swap 18 for one of the new exams, take that, and then re-purchase 18 and take it later?
 
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You guys weren’t kidding about the drop in motivation the last week before the exam....I’m genuinely so distracted through these last few blocks of UW. barely reading the entire questions and not reviewing my flags before ending the block just to be done sooner

I want this to be over yet I also feel like I don’t know anything and need more time. This process is wacky
 
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kb1900 said:
You guys weren’t kidding about the drop in motivation the last week before the exam....I’m genuinely so distracted through these last few blocks of UW. barely reading the entire questions and not reviewing my flags before ending the block just to be done sooner

I want this to be over yet I also feel like I don’t know anything and need more time. This process is wacky
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Trust your prep. Honestly the mistakes I made yesterday were probably going to be mistakes I made no matter what. It's scary but there is something to be said about realizing it is essentially impossible to know all of everything that could be on the test.
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
Trust your prep. Honestly the mistakes I made yesterday were probably going to be mistakes I made no matter what. It's scary but there is something to be said about realizing it is essentially impossible to know all of everything that could be on the test.
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Definitely feel that. I’m focusing on just maintaining the high yield stuff at this point. Did all of sketchy micro yesterday and today by just resetting the pepper deck and all I got out of it was like 45 cards of stuff I didn’t quite remember. I feel like it’s the same when I rewatch pathoma.


On the other hand I still have huge deficits in anatomy where I just get things right based on guessing. Hoping to start that 100 concepts pdf+deck tomorrow and cram it all down before next week. Don’t see myself learning any more new stuff tbh at this point.
 
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NecrotizingFasciitis said:
Is it as bad as 20? I don't need that kinda negativity in my life right now lol. Don't want to be demoralized at this point in time.
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Haha depends I guess. I thought 20 was way better (~30 points higher) but I also had almost 3 weeks between the 2 exams where I did like 60% of UW and drilled my weaknesses. So it would have been impossible for me to think 20 was harder
 
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So if you had to pick b/w NBME 23 or 24, which would you pick? My travels have set me back some days, so I thought I'd cut back a practice test
 
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After sleeping a night, I feel much better about the test. Still don't think I aced it (as in achieved my potential or got close to that) but the main thing throwing me off was the headaches and the technical issues. Done is done though and the sun is shining!

wanderingorion said:
So if you had to pick b/w NBME 23 or 24, which would you pick? My travels have set me back some days, so I thought I'd cut back a practice test
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doesnt matter.
 
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NecrotizingFasciitis said:
Is it as bad as 20? I don't need that kinda negativity in my life right now lol. Don't want to be demoralized at this point in time.
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I thought 20 was absolute hell. I just finished 22 and I thought it was a pretty fair exam. My scores were 21 points different.
 
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wonko said:
After sleeping a night, I feel much better about the test. Still don't think I aced it (as in achieved my potential or got close to that) but the main thing throwing me off was the headaches and the technical issues. Done is done though and the sun is shining!



doesnt matter.
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Congrats on finishing. I'm sure you did better than you think. Can you compare the exam to NBME question style and UW questions style? Was it mostly you know it or you don't? Was the question style like UW with a ton of distractors and 1 line that unlocked the answer or like NBME with a bunch of confusing general terms that try to hide an actual simple situation? What about the free 120? Or is the challenge that most of the vignettes are simple but the answer choices are tougher to understand?

Thanks.
 
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Anki users... What is your plan the last week or two? I am getting ready to abandon reviews from my master deck.. I am thinking of restarting my UWorld deck (~1600) cards, continue pepper deck reviews and maybe reset lightyear with only unsuspended cards from subjects I want extra work in, but not sure what is the best approach.... How do you guys approach this?
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
Would all you guys recommend the Lolnotacop micro deck? You think if you know that deck like the back of your hand you should be good for micro?
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I did all of lolnotacop in the 2 months prior to my test and felt like I had a super strong grip on all of micro throughout the real thing, there was maybe one micro question I was uncertain on.
 
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Frogger27 said:
Anki users... What is your plan the last week or two? I am getting ready to abandon reviews from my master deck.. I am thinking of restarting my UWorld deck (~1600) cards, continue pepper deck reviews and maybe reset lightyear with only unsuspended cards from subjects I want extra work in, but not sure what is the best approach.... How do you guys approach this?
Click to expand...
I made a list of my "Final Deck" with my most troublesome topic. I initially make like 6 separate decks with HY topics, but that was overzealous. Now I'm trying to patch up my problem areas. I'd recommend making most of them by yourself to prevent Cloze-overload.
 
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