I rarely post on SDN, and only give cursory glances at any score threads because everyone's scores seem like 99% outliers versus what I've heard from people I know and have spoken to in person (US-IMGs and US MD/DOs). I figured I'd post my info because it's a bit depressing to see these killer scores with people starting at 240/250s's and finishing at 280s, making it seem like a decent score is near impossible.
I got my score today, 241, exact same score as UWSA 2
my progress
step 1: 216 (taken june 2018)
nbme 6: 166 a week after my step 1 (about 11 months ago)
nbme 7: 190 @ 6 months out
UWSA 1: 213 @ 4 weeks out
nbme 8: 213 @ 10 days out
UWSA 2: 241 @ 6 days out
Free 120: >80% @ 6 days out (I don't remember that exact percentage).
About me (and I'm not being super specific for privacy reasons):
US born-IMG, I have an undergrad and graduate degree in fields unrelated to medicine or life sciences. I attended a non-english language medical school (not anywhere in Asia or Europe, not a Caribbean or Israeli school either with US), text books all written by national doctors (not US texts, also not in English), zero emphasis on USMLE, graduated a few years ago, worked one year abroad, no class rank at my school but I was typically an A/high B student if we use the US grading system, did way better in clinical rotations (almost all A's) compared to basic sciences (probably mostly mid/low Bs, few Cs in like neuro/histo, and As in micro/path). I currently provide care for two family members who require full time care due to limited mobility and I work part time to make money to pay for exams and eventually Match/residency trail.
Prep:
Took step 1 last year in June. I felt good about my exam. I wasn't able to start fully studying right away for 2ck for family/personal reasons. I did take nbme 6 a week after Step 1 which I bombed horribly (166), it made rethink how well I thought I had done on Step 1 so I waited on my score before looking at more material. Step 1 score was 216. With my low nbme 6 score I went through the onlinemeded videos, qbank and their flashcards for about a month (there was a subscription offer for about $10). It was helpful in understanding the whole next step vs best step which is what messed me up on the first nbme. I took nbme 7 (190) after finishing the OME materials. I thought it was a decent jump considering where I started from and my very relaxed study attitude at the time. I made my own anki cards (like 800+ cards) from some of the info from the OME videos/qbank/flashcards. I also made flashcards from the First Aid 2CK rapid review, and from my incorrect NBME questions/concepts. I reviewed all these flashcards every day along with the cards I eventually made from uworld.
My focused studying began in late February/early March, at first I was doing 4 days of studying with up to 8 hour days, and worked up to 6 days a week with Saturdays as catch up or block/concept review. I started with 2blocks/day with complete review of all questions correct and incorrect, eventually I worked up to 4blocks/day with faster review of each block. I exclusively did timed mixed blocks. I started at around 55% correct per block and ended new/unused with around 63% average but with scores around or just above the average on each block.
I originally was looking at some complimentary texts: First Aid 2ck, Master the Boards 2ck, Step Up 2CK and Step 2CK Secrets, but I hated moving between texts to find the best info, and sometimes there was conflicting info. I stopped using all texts and only did Uworld and my flashcards. For uworld I made flashcards based on my incorrect questions/concepts. I would spend around 1-1.5 hours per day reviewing my personal flashcards before/after doing question blocks.
I did one full pass of only new questions, that first pass was 63%. I took UWSA 1 after that, at 4 weeks out, scored 213. I noticed I made a few really basic mistakes from poor reading of answer choices or not catching obvious things in the vignette. Then I redid almost all of my incorrect/marked questions again and my uworld percentage was 68% (with all blocks well above the average). I didn't reset the qbank because I remember the questions too well, so I thought it wasn't a valid use of my time or indicator of where I was at after going over everything once. After finishing that I took nbme 8, scored a 215 and was a bit confused but had read that nbmes underestimate your score. I took a few days off (still reviewing flashcards daily though) to rest my mind and decided I would simulate a near full day exam.
I took UWSA 2 and the free 120 on the same day at the library pretending I was taking the real test, complete with the same clothes I would wear day of exam, same snacks, everything. I figured this way I could gauge my bathroom breaks and how my body felt. UWSA 2 scored 241, Free 120 scored over 80% overall. I was tired of studying at this point and fed up with this exam process, plus I had other things to attend to so I immediately scheduled my exam for the closest date available nearby, 5 days away. I reviewed UWSA 2 and the free 120 thoroughly for the next 2 days, making some flashcards but really just updating older cards with the concepts I missed. Since I had exhausted uworld questions, and didn't want to reset, I also did about 3 blocks of Amboss, but by then I had already scheduled my exam and decided it wasn't worth my time. I think Amboss is really good and wish I had seen it sooner or used it before starting uworld when I was studying more casually. I also did any new uworld questions that were added to the qbank, and read through my weakest subjects in Master the Boards 2ck, which in hindsight maybe got me 1 question but during the exam it seemed like nothing from that book that I had read came up.
Day of exam
Took my exam the first full week of May. The day before my exam I casually reviewed biostats formulas and some of my flash cards (anki deck of most lapsed cards), but mainly just went outside for some air and sun, did some exercise, took a long walk, ate good, and put my food bag together for exam day, went to bed early. The prometric people called me to remind me of my exam and they told me that they opened at 6:30am, if I wanted to I could come in early to start before my 9am schedule slot.
I couldn't sleep well and woke up at 5am, slept another 40 minutes and decided I'd just get my things together and go to the exam early. I went in at 7am and started around 7:30am. For Step 1 I did 3 blocks, then 2, 1, 1, and had 15-20 minutes of time to review each block thoroughly, banking at least 5 minutes per block for extra break time. For this exam I started 1.5 hours earlier than I had planned which messed me up a bit because I had to use the bathroom right after the first block. I ended up doing 1 block, pee break, 2 blocks, water break, 2 block, long break where I went outside to eat fruit and protein bar, 2 blocks, pee/water break, final block. I finished each block with maybe a little more than 5 minutes and only reviewed my marked questions that I wasn't totally sure on (about 10 q's per block), and occasionally banked 1-2 minutes if I was lucky. Only one block seemed really simple and gave me about 8 minutes of extra time that I banked for break. I didn't use about 3 minutes of break time because for the last block I just wanted to get it over with and leave.
Overall there were questions I knew I had absolutely correct. There were some questions where step 1 knowledge was all you needed. The free 120, unlike for step 1, had nothing to do with this exam and were very basic versus the actual test. For every block I marked around 10 questions where about half of those I was asking myself "WTF is this". I left the exam feeling like I didn't pass and really down about the whole experience. I honestly have been stressing out a lot the past 3 weeks about this, going so far as to continue reviewing my flashcards and doing an occasional random block of uworld. I was expecting my score at 4 weeks for some reason, and seeing it this morning made my day. Now I can move on to studying for 2CS in peace.
My advice for any IMG who is out of school for this exam:
-Start to study using uworld for 2ck immediately after you take step 1. If you passed step 1 with a 10 point buffer, with uworld alone you should be able to pass this test, but start right away because some of the step 1 material is seen on this test.
-Understand what the questions mean when they ask "next step" or "best test" etc. Having understood that early on I probably would've scored higher on my initial assessments and higher on the exam too.
-You are already a doctor, this test is only a number and not a validation of your ability to provide care for others, but still, sit down, study and give the exam the time it deserves.
Advice for anyone in general:
-The whole "which assessment is most predictive" argument is a bit skewed because most people take UWSA closest to their test date then get a score close to that. I think whatever assessment(s) you do closest to your exam will be predictive of your final score.
-The OME videos are good for general concepts but uworld is where it's at. OME qbank isn't worth it overall vs uworld, but it is a good self-esteem boost to help you along the way, it's worth maybe 1-2 month subscription MAX (for the qbank and flash cards) if they don't have some sort of discount running at the time.
-If you want to use a qbank besides uworld to get more questions in use either usmle-rx or amboss FIRST then uworld since uworld's questions are as long or longer than the actual exam's vignettes.
-This exam is about stamina, work up to 4 or more blocks per day, and try to simulate the actual test itself with an assessment (UWSA or nbme) plus 3-4 new blocks (another assessment, or free 120, or 3-4 new/unused blocks from uworld) to see how you will feel the day of your test (also simulate the day before the test too, so a rest/relax day before the full day simulation).
-Make your own unique flashcards for concepts you don't know or keep messing up so that you can understand it better.
-Someone said it above: the exam is not about clinical knowledge it's about clinical judgement and clinical application
Last:
This new score report format is bad compared to the previous style of the score report, which wasn't all that great either. And these exams are just a way to milk people for money, FYI IMGs (both US-IMG and foreign-IMG) pay more for these tests than American students, it's definitely money grab.
Hope this helps anyone who isn't a 90th percentile superstar from the start and is just willing to keep pushing to get to a decent number. Best of luck to all studiers and those waiting for their scores.
