USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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NotSoObvious said:
Do you mean like carbamazepine is cyp3a4 indeucer ans warfarin is metabolized by cyp2c9 type of stuff?
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Yeah, I mean like select the CYP for [Drug]:

CYP1A2
CYP2C8
CYP2D6

etc

Other examples would be "Which receptor does [drug not in Sketchy] bind to? Gaba-A, Gaba-B, etc"

Another would be vignette describing a rare paraneoplastic syndrome, and asking "Which malignancy do they most likely have?" Where the answer options do not have the #1 or #2 causes (which I knew) and are asking me to pick the #3 cause from among a lineup of other malignancies.

You get the idea. I was never struggling to understand what I was being asked or tested on, which can happen with UWorld. For the real step it was either I know that fact, or I don't.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
I personally think number of questions done and reviewed is superior to anki. Every single high scorer I personally know never touched anki but did do at least 7000 unique questions by the time they took the exam. Some did 10K. My step 1 tutor personally did 7500 himself and he swears by this theory. Its not that anki is bad its that its not required to get a high score
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I'd agree with that because I think it's essentially the same thing. Forcing you to recall thousands of obscure facts repeatedly is the key, whether you prefer to do that with cards or bank after bank of practice Qs.
 
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efle said:
I think I called it "more straightforward" because it was actually harder for me, lots of factoids I simply hadn't memorized. But for friends who had committed Zanki to memory, it was a breeze. Every single one of them scored 260-270.
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Would you say this difference was reflected in your NBME scores?

I haven't done Zanki, but I've made an effort to memorize all the factoids in FA and a lot in UW. I'm not aware if Zanki is pulling information from other sources as well.
 
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maieutic said:
Would you say this difference was reflected in your NBME scores?

I haven't done Zanki, but I've made an effort to memorize all the factoids in FA and a lot in UW. I'm not aware if Zanki is pulling information from other sources as well.
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NBMEs were all over the place. I hit 90-95% correct on the old material like NBME18 and Free120, but those are no longer representative in my opinion, they're too easy. Then the new NBMEs slapped me around, but actually gave me a better scaled score because their curve was so generous.

Best predictor for me was Score = UWSAs - 10pts.
 
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efle said:
NBMEs were all over the place. I hit 90-95% correct on the old material like NBME18 and Free120, but those are no longer representative in my opinion, they're too easy. Then the new NBMEs slapped me around, but actually gave me a better scaled score because their curve was so generous.

Best predictor for me was Score = UWSAs - 10pts.
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:stop: u take that back right this instant young wo/man
 
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efle said:
NBMEs were all over the place. I hit 90-95% correct on the old material like NBME18 and Free120, but those are no longer representative in my opinion, they're too easy. Then the new NBMEs slapped me around, but actually gave me a better scaled score because their curve was so generous.

Best predictor for me was Score = UWSAs - 10pts.
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You're one of the only people I ever see saying that the NBMEs, like 18, felt easy. Do you mean the actual exam was easy, or the way the curve is scaled?
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
You're one of the only people I ever see saying that the NBMEs, like 18, felt easy. Do you mean the actual exam was easy, or the way the curve is scaled?
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I 100% agree with you. Sooo much of the data states NBME 18 is the most predictive of any NBME. I dont think NBME 18 is “easier” in any way lol The new NBMEs are far too hard and the really old NBMEs overpredict based on the data but 18 has like a .7 correlation or something which is pretty darn high
 
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Deecee2DO said:
I 100% agree with you. Sooo much of the data states NBME 18 is the most predictive of any NBME. I dont think NBME 18 is “easier” in any way lol The new NBMEs are far too hard and the really old NBMEs overpredict based on the data but 18 has like a .7 correlation or something which is pretty darn high
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After taking NBME 21 today I really really hope so.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
I took 21. It was soul crushing. Got a 217 before starting UW and my UW avg is 75%. The discrepancy is wild
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Haha I feel a little relieved then. Got a 220 with a 74% UW average. Hoping it all goes up from here! Have you taken any of the older ones yet? Wanted to see if I could save myself $60
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
Whats a 'good' percentage to see after you do a block of UWorld questions? I review all the questions regardless, but im curious as to what percentage correct on a block is like 'hey I did good on that one' is mid 70s good orrrrr
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If you are in the 70s you will be in the 70th percentile. that obviously a good score.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
Just took NBME 17 and got 228. Not super happy but it’s 3 points up from NBME 19. Really want to break 235 on an NBME before the actual exam.
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Thats a good score man. Remember the NBMEs usually underpredict so. Youre taking real thing in June right? You still got time
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Thats a good score man. Remember the NBMEs usually underpredict so. Youre taking real thing in June right? You still got time
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NotSoObvious said:
Whens your date again? That correlates to close to a 240 on the real thing so don't stress about it. That's a good score!
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June 12th is my date. I’m just finding it harder and harder to focus as dedicated goes on. Gotta slap myself into shape and keep going. Thanks for the positive vibes guys!
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
June 12th is my date. I’m just finding it harder and harder to focus as dedicated goes on. Gotta slap myself into shape and keep going. Thanks for the positive vibes guys!
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Im taking COMLEX june 12 also in Louisville KY!

Also, does anyone know how long UWSA1 is? is it the same length as the NBMEs or is it a full 280 questions?
 
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is starting practice exams 3-4 weeks out from the exam to late? I wont be done with zanki till June 9th and my comlex is on July 2nd. Step is only July 16th
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
is starting practice exams 3-4 weeks out from the exam to late? I wont be done with zanki till June 9th and my comlex is on July 2nd. Step is only July 16th
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Try and fit some practice tests in earlier if you can. Def dont need to wait till you finish zanki. Regardless youll be fine since youve done zanki but practice exams are def important imo
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Try and fit some practice tests in earlier if you can. Def dont need to wait till you finish zanki. Regardless youll be fine since youve done zanki but practice exams are def important imo
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I'm sure this has been asked a million times before, but id rather not sort through the thread, what NBMEs are considered viable?
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
I'm sure this has been asked a million times before, but id rather not sort through the thread, what NBMEs are considered viable?
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No worries bro yeah so most predictive is 18. the rest are just not predictive tbh lmao theyre just all vague and difficult. Ive done 21 (anything 20 or higher are super hard and usually can underpredict by like 15 points)
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
~6 weeks out and starting to lose motivation for the grind lol, slept in super late today. Hopefully will be back on track tomorrow, just gotta remind myself that this will all be over in less than 2 months (hopefully).
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I 100% feel that. Fell off the train on Saturday, but it was also my girlfriends birthday. Playing catch up today on top of my regular studying.

Really happy I limited Anki to 1000 cards a day, but super scared I’m going to hemorrhage small details before my exam in 31 days.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
I 100% feel that. Fell off the train on Saturday, but it was also my girlfriends birthday. Playing catch up today on top of my regular studying.

Really happy I limited Anki to 1000 cards a day, but super scared I’m going to hemorrhage small details before my exam in 31 days.
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I've been putting ~2 hours into Anki per day and have thought about limiting it but I just feel too nervous like you mentioned. I still find myself missing cards that were already mature so limiting myself makes me worried. I also want to start hitting that anatomy deck someone posted a bit back in the thread, but I'm dreading having to re-start with new cards after finally being done so I keep pushing it off. Trying to figure out the best way to incorporate content review too lol, fun times.
 
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advice needed. ive finished uworld and would like to go over FA weak areas. but is it better to do rx questions or just brute force through the FA chapter?
 
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256 on USWA1 today. Not really sure if that shows progress from 241 on NBME24 from last Monday because of how disparate the two are. Thoughts?
 
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