USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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efle said:
The step1 subreddit was fully of shady business this morning. Stuff like people getting confirmation of their exam a day or two beforehand, showing up, and being told they weren't able to test despite multiple empty seats in the room.

I wouldn't trust anything besides a live human at your center who checks the roster and confirms you're on it.
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Does anyone know a phone number to call that an actual human being will pick up tomorrow? Ive called my test center and its just a recording, same with the 800 number I found off pro metrics site
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
Does anyone know a phone number to call that an actual human being will pick up tomorrow? Ive called my test center and its just a recording, same with the 800 number I found off pro metrics site
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Your center being unlisted and having only a voicemail during business hours makes it sound like it hasn't reopened yet. When's your test day?
 
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Reviewing third block of UWSA1 (my lowest) and I made so many stupid mistakes, so many where I had the right answer at first and then super overthought myself down a rabbit hole. Would've crossed 250 if not for this block and it's so frustrating to see how many I had right at first. Anyone have any good test taking tips for this?
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Reviewing third block of UWSA1 (my lowest) and I made so many stupid mistakes, so many where I had the right answer at first and then super overthought myself down a rabbit hole. Would've crossed 250 if not for this block and it's so frustrating to see how many I had right at first. Anyone have any good test taking tips for this?
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Never let yourself change an answer. They even show you this statistic on one of the pages, right? Percent of time that changing an answer was correct vs incorrect? For me it was always like 80-20 bad idea to change.

The real test is even more dumbed down than Uworld. It feels like 75% stupid easy softball questions and 25% regurgitating obscure facts. The tricky stuff Uworld pulls all the time is absent, so don't let yourself overthink, or if you're like me just make a policy never to change an answer.
 
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efle said:
Never let yourself change an answer. They even show you this statistic on one of the pages, right? Percent of time that changing an answer was correct vs incorrect? For me it was always like 80-20 bad idea to change.

The real test is even more dumbed down than Uworld. It feels like 75% stupid easy softball questions and 25% regurgitating obscure facts. The tricky stuff Uworld pulls all the time is absent, so don't let yourself overthink, or if you're like me just make a policy never to change an answer.
Click to expand...
I have this rule for in-class exams but for some reason with UWorld I just let myself go down the rabbit hole. But next block I do I'll make it a hard and fast rule and see how I do. Thank you!
 
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Briefly touched on in another thread, but anyone know what's going on with this whole odd/even seat thing? Is this going on even after the 50% cancellation business?
 
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iforget2 said:
Briefly touched on in another thread, but anyone know what's going on with this whole odd/even seat thing? Is this going on even after the 50% cancellation business?
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My take is that they "randomly" cancelled 50% by just cancelling all the odds.

But, they are also cancelling a bunch of evens at closed test centers.

So you're safer as an even, but still no guarantee.
 
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COMLEX related:
Has anyone done any of the Truelearn/COMBANK assessments? do we know how they fair as far as giving you an accurate score? I thought I read somewhere that they over predict, but I dont know by how much. I did well I think? It told me I am about ~8% above the national average for that test, which is good? But if its just going to give me a super inflated score then I wont bother reading into it.

They have this chart that supposedly lists how their scale has changed on how they grade, but again, Idk how accurate any of it is.
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
how do you find out your seat number??
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I haven't done it myself (ignorance is bliss), but apparently you can call your center and ask them to look at the roster for that day to find out if you're even or odd. Again, whether this even/odd thing is already completed or even a real thing is still a question.
 
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Mr.IceHockey said:
COMLEX related:
Has anyone done any of the Truelearn/COMBANK assessments? do we know how they fair as far as giving you an accurate score? I thought I read somewhere that they over predict, but I dont know by how much. I did well I think? It told me I am about ~8% above the national average for that test, which is good? But if its just going to give me a super inflated score then I wont bother reading into it.

They have this chart that supposedly lists how their scale has changed on how they grade, but again, Idk how accurate any of it is.
Click to expand...

I don’t know how accurate it is, but it has underpredicted me compared to our school practice COMLEX exams. My school puts me at ~700-720, combank puts me at 610-620, ComQuest puts me at 650-680
 
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iforget2 said:
I haven't done it myself (ignorance is bliss), but apparently you can call your center and ask them to look at the roster for that day to find out if you're even or odd. Again, whether this even/odd thing is already completed or even a real thing is still a question.
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I tried this with my center and was told that they can't see more than 2 weeks out so she couldn't confirm me right now. But apparently other centers can see into June so idk what the deal is. My center told me that openings reflect the cancellation of nonessential exams and should be legit (at least at their site) but I've seen too many people get burned at the last second despite being confirmed to really believe anything anyone says.
 
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GoCards05 said:
I tried this with my center and was told that they can't see more than 2 weeks out so she couldn't confirm me right now. But apparently other centers can see into June so idk what the deal is. My center told me that openings reflect the cancellation of nonessential exams and should be legit (at least at their site) but I've seen too many people get burned at the last second despite being confirmed to really believe anything anyone says.
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Were you originally rescheduled? I'm wondering if when all those new dates started popping up for May/June, those weren't completely accurate and still reflected the site at 100% capacity, and then needed to again cut people who signed up for those spots to meet the 50% mark, thus using even/odd as their method. So this would theoretically only affect those who were originally cut last week. I could be completely off, but I'm hoping this is the case.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
I don’t know how accurate it is, but it has underpredicted me compared to our school practice COMLEX exams. My school puts me at ~700-720, combank puts me at 610-620, ComQuest puts me at 650-680
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I am sort of hoping these are accurate. This assessment has me at 560 or so, which I would be happy with. But I cant really find posts where people list their COMBANK assessment scores and then their actual comlex1 result.
 
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iforget2 said:
Were you originally rescheduled? I'm wondering if when all those new dates started popping up for May/June, those weren't completely accurate and still reflected the site at 100% capacity, and then needed to again cut people who signed up for those spots to meet the 50% mark, thus using even/odd as their method. So this would theoretically only affect those who were originally cut last week. I could be completely off, but I'm hoping this is the case.
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Yeah I was. The lady at my center indicated the spots were legitimate due to cancellation of nonessential exams but based on what others have said, it sounds like it was a mix of legitimate and fake spots that were released last week. I would assume if you survived the initial purge and haven't moved your date around at all, you should be fine. No one really knows if this even/odd thing is real or not, some centers are telling people this while others are saying it's not true. I managed to snag a date that wasn't part of the mass openings and just appeared randomly as a single spot by itself so that makes me think it's more likely to be a real spot. But who really knows.
 
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Mr.IceHockey said:
I am sort of hoping these are accurate. This assessment has me at 560 or so, which I would be happy with. But I cant really find posts where people list their COMBANK assessment scores and then their actual comlex1 result.
Click to expand...

I’ll be honest, I don’t think people care enough about the COMLEX to do the data.
 
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On another note, I seem to be stuck in a 70s Uworld hole. My past 5 tests are 70, 73, 73, 73, and 70. I really want to hit 80 more consistently and I’m not sure how. I think I definitely miss two or three per set on bad logic, I guess that could be my next step up.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
On another note, I seem to be stuck in a 70s Uworld hole. My past 5 tests are 70, 73, 73, 73, and 70. I really want to hit 80 more consistently and I’m not sure how. I think I definitely miss two or three per set on bad logic, I guess that could be my next step up.
Click to expand...

That 80 barrier is tough to break. I'm more than 1/3 through UW and can't say I've been able to hit it consistently either. Hopefully it will just come with more and more exposure whether through UW problems or from another Qbank
 
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What are your guys' opinion on my test situation (step 1):

- Had an original date in early June that was cancelled
- Found a single random open spot half way across the country from me that opened up for the 2nd week in June (this happened before all those mistake ones opened) (test center was on the original list that was planning on opening more seats)
- Test center is now OFF the newer list of places that are going to open up more seats (although other centers in the state are on there)
- Test center does not answer phone calls or anything.

worried that I grabbed a mistake opening, even though it was the only open spot and its confirmed on the website. Just weird to me they won't answer phones.
 
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Mr.IceHockey said:
COMLEX related:
Has anyone done any of the Truelearn/COMBANK assessments? do we know how they fair as far as giving you an accurate score? I thought I read somewhere that they over predict, but I dont know by how much. I did well I think? It told me I am about ~8% above the national average for that test, which is good? But if its just going to give me a super inflated score then I wont bother reading into it.

They have this chart that supposedly lists how their scale has changed on how they grade, but again, Idk how accurate any of it is.
Click to expand...
I know dozens of people who hit 700+ on the TrueLearn assessments and barely cleared 500 on the real thing. It way over predicts.
 
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If
CyrusHabs7695 said:
What are your guys' opinion on my test situation (step 1):

- Had an original date in early June that was cancelled
- Found a single random open spot half way across the country from me that opened up for the 2nd week in June (this happened before all those mistake ones opened) (test center was on the original list that was planning on opening more seats)
- Test center is now OFF the newer list of places that are going to open up more seats (although other centers in the state are on there)
- Test center does not answer phone calls or anything.

worried that I grabbed a mistake opening, even though it was the only open spot and its confirmed on the website. Just weird to me they won't answer phones.
Click to expand...
I would just try and see if you can swap for another spot somewhere else. I know people using movemyexam to track spots
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
On another note, I seem to be stuck in a 70s Uworld hole. My past 5 tests are 70, 73, 73, 73, and 70. I really want to hit 80 more consistently and I’m not sure how. I think I definitely miss two or three per set on bad logic, I guess that could be my next step up.
Click to expand...
Bro consistent 80+ is very difficult to hit. 70s consistently is really solid. If you started out in the 70s you should hit 80+ percentile by the time youre done with the bank
 
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I've surprisingly scored higher on blocks since I switched to doing them timed random. I was doing them untimed on tutor mode and scoring high 60s/low 70s with the very occasional 80 but I've been upper 70s/right around 80 on all blocks on timed random. Maybe the urgency of getting done on time helps me focus better?
 
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GoCards05 said:
I've surprisingly scored higher on blocks since I switched to doing them timed random. I was doing them untimed on tutor mode and scoring high 60s/low 70s with the very occasional 80 but I've been upper 70s/right around 80 on all blocks on timed random. Maybe the urgency of getting done on time helps me focus better?
Click to expand...

Honestly it probably helps cut down the amount of time you have to second guess your choices. good stuff tho bro
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Bro consistent 80+ is very difficult to hit. 70s consistently is really solid. If you started out in the 70s you should hit 80+ percentile by the time youre done with the bank
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I hate that I seem to get a few wrong that 70%+ got right. I need to figure out how to always get those as they should be easy points. But then again, I haven’t done most of anki pharm and those kill me pretty often.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
I hate that I seem to get a few wrong that 70%+ got right. I need to figure out how to always get those as they should be easy points. But then again, I haven’t done most of anki pharm and those kill me pretty often.
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if youre getting in the 70s without knowing the pharm too well then youre doing unreal. Once you get the sketchy cards locked down for pharm you will get so many easy questions right
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
if youre getting in the 70s without knowing the pharm too well then youre doing unreal. Once you get the sketchy cards locked down for pharm you will get so many easy questions right
Click to expand...

I sure hope so. I find myself sometimes “reasoning” my way out of the right answers on things I know too. It’s usually with questions that are describing something histologically or in vague terms.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
I hate that I seem to get a few wrong that 70%+ got right. I need to figure out how to always get those as they should be easy points. But then again, I haven’t done most of anki pharm and those kill me pretty often.
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I do the same thing man lol your scores will go up quick once you get down all of anki pharm which is an easy fix. When I started UW i had only been through sketchy micro once maybe not even if that and now that Ive seen all of sketchy micro almost 2.5x now my micro score has sky rocketted and its getting me a lot more points where my avg is starting to slightly climb
 
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efle said:
Never let yourself change an answer. They even show you this statistic on one of the pages, right? Percent of time that changing an answer was correct vs incorrect? For me it was always like 80-20 bad idea to change.

The real test is even more dumbed down than Uworld. It feels like 75% stupid easy softball questions and 25% regurgitating obscure facts. The tricky stuff Uworld pulls all the time is absent, so don't let yourself overthink, or if you're like me just make a policy never to change an answer.
Click to expand...
I've always heard this as the common wisdom, but it didn't actually turn out to be true for me. For changed answers on UWorld I went incorrect -> correct in 70% of questions, correct -> incorrect in 15%, and incorrect -> incorrect in 15%. So it's worthwhile checking your stats on that.

fldoctorgirl said:
I have this rule for in-class exams but for some reason with UWorld I just let myself go down the rabbit hole. But next block I do I'll make it a hard and fast rule and see how I do. Thank you!
Click to expand...

Again, see above about maybe not having a hard and fast rule. On the other hand, I think what CAN be helpful is a metacognitive awareness of when you're overthinking - learn what that feels like, and then when it's happening, just move on. You can always come back and glance at it again later.

iforget2 said:
That 80 barrier is tough to break. I'm more than 1/3 through UW and can't say I've been able to hit it consistently either. Hopefully it will just come with more and more exposure whether through UW problems or from another Qbank
Click to expand...

I think it really comes down to how many questions you do. It seems like it would be VERY difficult to break 80+ on UWorld consistently if it was your first qbank. I increased about 5% on kaplan after doing Rx, despite people saying Kaplan was more difficult. Then I did better on UWorld than kaplan, even though again the average question difficulty is higher in UW. It all comes down to exposure - there are a limited number of ways they can ask the questions, and at least 80% of the questions are going to be drawn from the same relatively high yield material, and probably more like 90%. It's only when you start to get into maximizing that last 10% right that you need to start hunting the really esoteric stuff.
 
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Does anyone know what the Uworld percentage to percentile is? My overall average is 66% (I started really early and was missing a lot of material early on) which is like 57th percentile? My 30 day average is 72% so I’m curious about what that would look like percentile-wise.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
Does anyone know what the Uworld percentage to percentile is? My overall average is 66% (I started really early and was missing a lot of material early on) which is like 57th percentile? My 30 day average is 72% so I’m curious about what that would look like percentile-wise.
Click to expand...
I'm at 72% overall and it's at 72nd percentile.
 
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GoCards05 said:
I've surprisingly scored higher on blocks since I switched to doing them timed random. I was doing them untimed on tutor mode and scoring high 60s/low 70s with the very occasional 80 but I've been upper 70s/right around 80 on all blocks on timed random. Maybe the urgency of getting done on time helps me focus better?
Click to expand...
I have always thought about this. I do tutor untimed because I hate the process of reviewing and even though it's stupid and psychological it feels better to me to review as I go then to have to sit and review a block of 40 lol. But I've always felt that if I had the pressure of the time on me I wouldn't change as many answers or overthink so much, so thanks for sharing this perspective.
 
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I'm ~80% at 85 percentile so far random timed. Why is the percentile higher than the actual percent for some rather than others. Does it take into account question difficulty?
 
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Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
I'm ~80% at 85 percentile so far random timed. Why is the percentile higher than the actual percent for some rather than others. Does it take into account question difficulty?
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The percentile is just how you do compared to the average. So at 80% correct, you're doing better than 85% of people doing UWorld.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
I have always thought about this. I do tutor untimed because I hate the process of reviewing and even though it's stupid and psychological it feels better to me to review as I go then to have to sit and review a block of 40 lol. But I've always felt that if I had the pressure of the time on me I wouldn't change as many answers or overthink so much, so thanks for sharing this perspective.
Click to expand...

I've found on step 2 UWorld qs that I do better when on random/timed as well. Because tutor mode forces you to review immediately I think it kind of takes you out of question answering mindset and may also cause increased mental fatigue by the end of a block, vs just getting through the block and then going back and reviewing.
 
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FindersFee5 said:
I've found on step 2 UWorld qs that I do better when on random/timed as well. Because tutor mode forces you to review immediately I think it kind of takes you out of question answering mindset and may also cause increased mental fatigue by the end of a block, vs just getting through the block and then going back and reviewing.
Click to expand...
That makes a lot of sense. I'm going to give it a shot on my next block and see how it goes.
 
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FindersFee5 said:
It's only when you start to get into maximizing that last 10% right that you need to start hunting the really esoteric stuff.
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But never forget folks, 10% of Q's is roughly the gap from 230 to 260. It feels like you can shrug off the occasional weird esoteric factoid while studying, but those are the Q's that actually differentiate you for competitive fields.
 
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efle said:
Never let yourself change an answer. They even show you this statistic on one of the pages, right? Percent of time that changing an answer was correct vs incorrect? For me it was always like 80-20 bad idea to change.

The real test is even more dumbed down than Uworld. It feels like 75% stupid easy softball questions and 25% regurgitating obscure facts. The tricky stuff Uworld pulls all the time is absent, so don't let yourself overthink, or if you're like me just make a policy never to change an answer.
Click to expand...
Wait efle are you saying you felt real deal was easier than UW? Even if it is same difficulty as UW im fine with that but if its as hard or harder than NBMEs I may have a panic attack lmao. My motto is never change an answer unless you are 100% certain you are changing it to the correct answer and you can reason out why. I love that UW shows you your ratio of changing answers
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Wait efle are you saying you felt real deal was easier than UW? Even if it is same difficulty as UW im fine with that but if its as hard or harder than NBMEs I may have a panic attack lmao. My motto is never change an answer unless you are 100% certain you are changing it to the correct answer and you can reason out why. I love that UW shows you your ratio of changing answers
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I felt it was more straightforward than UWorld. Sometimes in UW I would get something wrong because they tricked me or distracted me well. On Step it was I knew it, or I didn't.
 
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Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
Gotcha, that's good to hear. How long do you guys spend going over blocks?
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1 hr timed random for a 40 block then about 3-4 hrs reviewing based on how well I did. If i killed it then prolly around 3 hrs but if I **** the bed bad sometimes itll take me 4 hrs. Im trying to work myself up to 100-120 questions per day Im only at 80 rn. Ripping 100 questions with review plus doing sketchy with my anki decks is like a 14 hr day cant be doin that just yet or Ill be crawling into my exam in mid july
 
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Anyone know the difference between global payment and bundled payment? The description in FA 2020 makes them seem awfully similar. Google seems to suggest global payment is more or less capitation (or rather, capitation is the most common way global payments are implemented).
 
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