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