USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Since one hasn't been started, figured I'd start this for all us M2s and M3s taking Step this coming year.

DO student interested in EM. Estimated test date is mid June.

Goal is 230+ but I'd be happy with 225+.

Good luck everyone!
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Hi, All.

Longtime lurker. I recently took step and am a bit nervous because of dumb mistakes I made on test day.

I finished zanki & lolnotacop prior to dedicated and continued with these reviews until about a week prior to my exam. I finished UW a few days prior to the exam @ 77% (random, timed blocks). I originally had 6 weeks planned for my dedicated but cut it down to 4.

NBME 20: 232 (4 weeks prior)

UW1: 256 (3 weeks prior)

UW2: 245 (2 weeks prior)

Step 1: ?

After my UW2 assessment, I was satisfied and wanted to just finish the UW qbank and get the beast over with...

I would be happy with anything over a 240... Any thoughts?
 
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lj94 said:
Hi, All.

Longtime lurker. I recently took step and am a bit nervous because of dumb mistakes I made on test day.

I finished zanki & lolnotacop prior to dedicated and continued with these reviews until about a week prior to my exam. I finished UW a few days prior to the exam @ 77% (random, timed blocks). I originally had 6 weeks planned for my dedicated but cut it down to 4.

NBME 20: 232 (4 weeks prior)

UW1: 256 (3 weeks prior)

UW2: 245 (2 weeks prior)

Step 1: ?

After my UW2 assessment, I was satisfied and wanted to just finish the UW qbank and get the beast over with...

I would be happy with anything over a 240... Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
I'm sure with your impressive practice scores you still made some dumb mistakes. The exam is 280 questions. Dumb mistakes are bound to happen. You're probably ignoring all the questions you got right while focusing on the ones you got wrong.

BTW, did you start Uworld during dedicated? I'm 10 blocks in after 4 days of dedicated (about 78% correct), and would like to finish it in 4-4.5 weeks, but it's difficult. Reviewing the sets takes forever.
 
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DubbiDoctor said:
I'm sure with your impressive practice scores you still made some dumb mistakes. The exam is 280 questions. Dumb mistakes are bound to happen. You're probably ignoring all the questions you got right while focusing on the ones you got wrong.

BTW, did you start Uworld during dedicated? I'm 10 blocks in after 4 days of dedicated (about 78% correct), and would like to finish it in 4-4.5 weeks, but it's difficult. Reviewing the sets takes forever.
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Thank you. And I think I started my dedicated with like 2300 UW questions left? I did a few hundred during my winter break right before. TBH I know everyone says to take your time reviewing, but I spent way too long with my reviews so I started to time myself and forced myself to get through them a little quicker. You also get faster as you go.
Good luck to you!
 
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lj94 said:
Hi, All.

Longtime lurker. I recently took step and am a bit nervous because of dumb mistakes I made on test day.

I finished zanki & lolnotacop prior to dedicated and continued with these reviews until about a week prior to my exam. I finished UW a few days prior to the exam @ 77% (random, timed blocks). I originally had 6 weeks planned for my dedicated but cut it down to 4.

NBME 20: 232 (4 weeks prior)

UW1: 256 (3 weeks prior)

UW2: 245 (2 weeks prior)

Step 1: ?

After my UW2 assessment, I was satisfied and wanted to just finish the UW qbank and get the beast over with...

I would be happy with anything over a 240... Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
It sounds like you'll be fine. I feel like everyone walks out only thinking about the mistakes they made. 77% is a pretty good number, I'd be surprised if you scored less than 235.
 
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braineddetermined said:
It looks like that from 2022 onwards Step 1 will be Pass/Fail...is it better or worse at this point? What will the programs look at then? Will there be a Step 2 ck cut off?

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The only way of comparison will be CK but I don't think that programs will take that into consideration since as they mention and I quote "The USMLE co-sponsors recognize that an ideal system for evaluating candidates for residency is holistic. This system should feature trusted quantitative and qualitative assessments of a candidate’s competencies and unique characteristics. In such a system, USMLE would serve as just one of these objective measures and be weighted appropriately."

From what I can understand programs will give more emphasis to research experience, publications, voluntary work etc rather than Step scores. It will be interesting to see how the competitive res programs like dermatology or Plastics will judge candidates? I think the one way other than CK will for sure be peer - reviewed pubs (of-course in the field you're applying)
 
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braineddetermined said:
It looks like that from 2022 onwards Step 1 will be Pass/Fail...is it better or worse at this point? What will the programs look at then? Will there be a Step 2 ck cut off?

Home | United States Medical Licensing Examination

www.usmle.org www.usmle.org
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I feel good about this in theory; Step 1 is becoming crazy and it should definitely be de-emphasized. But, realistically, if they're not using Step 1, they're going to have to use something else. The real thing that needs serious reform in order for this to become useful is changing the residency application process, like limiting the amount of programs people can apply to etc. I am happy that this won't affect me as a DO student who's been busting their butt on Anki for the last 1.5 years.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
I feel good about this in theory; Step 1 is becoming crazy and it should definitely be de-emphasized. But, realistically, if they're not using Step 1, they're going to have to use something else. The real thing that needs serious reform in order for this to become useful is changing the residency application process, like limiting the amount of programs people can apply to etc. I am happy that this won't affect me as a DO student who's been busting their butt on Anki for the last 1.5 years.
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Real happy I'm gonna take the exam before then as another DO student. If I do well, my score can only open doors.
 
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Research is going to be the new zanki for pre-clinical students. Don't see why anyone would put so much effort into learning everything, when comfortably passing does not require it. Volunteering may start to matter more too. Could never find the motivation to spend hours on research and other extra-curriculars so I'm glad I'm taking the exam before the switch.
 
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Well Step 1 fam it has been real! I can't believe I dedicated so much time studying for this exam, for them to now make it only pass/fail. Its insane.
 
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Tbh we caught a break it looks like. We'll all have applied to residency by 1/1/21 so not really our problem. Might even have an option to do a year off and apply with a P if you do poorly, so we might actually benefit

Also put up my first 90%+ 40 Q block doing Kaplan on random today. Step might be a blunt instrument but there are Kaplan questions 50% of people miss that are just basic physiology. Maybe none of it matters for actual practice, but it is a little concerning how little basic science knowledge people will be able to get through medical school with now
 
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Honestly the main reason they use Step 1 as a screening tool is because there are sooo many applicants and so little residency positions, they could just open up more residency spots, addressing the whole doctor shortage thing, and with more spots to go around I promise you, there would be a more holistic approach to all the applicants. As an Aside thinking about it:

  • It would be kind of scary to have a guy who scored a 197 be my surgeon or my family member's surgeon. Work ethic of a killer step score vs barely passing is just not the same.
  • Basically what this means is kill your mcat to get into a top teir med school 7-10 years before you even treat patients on your own, and all doors will remain open lol.
 
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The.Supinator said:
Honestly the main reason they use Step 1 as a screening tool is because there are sooo many applicants and so little residency positions, they could just open up more residency spots, addressing the whole doctor shortage thing, and with more spots to go around I promise you, there would be a more holistic approach to all the applicants. As an Aside thinking about it:

  • It would be kind of scary to have a guy who scored a 197 be my surgeon or my family member's surgeon. Work ethic of a killer step score vs barely passing is just not the same.
  • Basically what this means is kill your mcat to get into a top teir med school 7-10 years before you even treat patients on your own, and all doors will remain open lol.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that earlier. Would I rather have a personable surgeon or a competent surgeon? Obviously that’s a false dichotomy, but given the choice between the two I would take the competent surgeon who put in the work to get there.
 
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May not be directly USMLE related, but our school had use take a 200 question COMBANK COMLEX practice exam and I got 61st percentile. Not sure if that's a good score at this point or if it really means anything since it's combank/comlex. There was a lot of stuff on there that I haven't seen before because we haven't finished a few systems so I guessed. I don't take either exam till June so I'm hoping my next practice exam will be 70% percentile for COMLEX and at least 50%+ for first USMLE practice.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
May not be directly USMLE related, but our school had use take a 200 question COMBANK COMLEX practice exam and I got 61st percentile. Not sure if that's a good score at this point or if it really means anything since it's combank/comlex. There was a lot of stuff on there that I haven't seen before because we haven't finished a few systems so I guessed. I don't take either exam till June so I'm hoping my next practice exam will be 70% percentile for COMLEX and at least 50%+ for first USMLE practice.
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Sounds pretty great if you haven't even done all the subjects yet.

Week into dedicated and got my first 90+% on a UW block. Doing a bunch of amboss questions has really helped. Wish I had had completed it. In the end, likely the only Qbank I complete will be Uworld. Seems like there are only so many ways to ask step 1 questions. Not sure how many times I've answered that someone with a history of pheochromocytoma has medullary carcinoma. Doing tons of questions + zanki really is the key to step success. If you want a 265+, do all of zanki, all 4 qbanks, and all the NBMEs.
 
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DubbiDoctor said:
Sounds pretty great if you haven't even done all the subjects yet.

Week into dedicated and got my first 90+% on a UW block. Doing a bunch of amboss questions has really helped. Wish I had had completed it. In the end, likely the only Qbank I complete will be Uworld. Seems like there are only so many ways to ask step 1 questions. Not sure how many times I've answered that someone with a history of pheochromocytoma has medullary carcinoma. Doing tons of questions + zanki really is the key to step success. If you want a 265+, do all of zanki, all 4 qbanks, and all the NBMEs.
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If you're gettin 90%s on UWorld just go take the exam lol
 
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DubbiDoctor said:
Sounds pretty great if you haven't even done all the subjects yet.

Week into dedicated and got my first 90+% on a UW block. Doing a bunch of amboss questions has really helped. Wish I had had completed it. In the end, likely the only Qbank I complete will be Uworld. Seems like there are only so many ways to ask step 1 questions. Not sure how many times I've answered that someone with a history of pheochromocytoma has medullary carcinoma. Doing tons of questions + zanki really is the key to step success. If you want a 265+, do all of zanki, all 4 qbanks, and all the NBMEs.
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Im still 3 months out from dedicated. Hope I can be where you’re at when I start, 90% on U world is crazy impressive.
 
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DubbiDoctor said:
Sounds pretty great if you haven't even done all the subjects yet.

Week into dedicated and got my first 90+% on a UW block. Doing a bunch of amboss questions has really helped. Wish I had had completed it. In the end, likely the only Qbank I complete will be Uworld. Seems like there are only so many ways to ask step 1 questions. Not sure how many times I've answered that someone with a history of pheochromocytoma has medullary carcinoma. Doing tons of questions + zanki really is the key to step success. If you want a 265+, do all of zanki, all 4 qbanks, and all the NBMEs.
Click to expand...
While I agree doing craptons of questions is key, doing all of the NBMEs seems like a waste since you cant really learn from them-maybe 3 max. Regardless bro youre at a 90% already? thats savage
 
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Taking step in the next few days, my scores and thoughts so far:

UWSA1 239 (Before dedicated)

NBME 18 236 (4 weeks out, after first pass of material): Poorly worded questions with reliance on acronyms. I would not recommend this.

NBME 23 249(3 weeks out): Better exam overall, but still a similar number of questions that had words I wasn't familiar with.

NBME 24 250 (2 weeks out): Very similar to NBME 23, slightly harder in my opinion.

Free 120 (1.5 weeks out): 88% Questions were much more straightforward than Uworld

UWSA2 262: Easier than the standard Uworld blocks, but similar overall.

I did not use anki during preclinical years, but did finish USMLE-RX. I did a first pass of First aid and pathoma over my first 3 weeks of dedicated. Anki deck for micro, pharm and anatomy.
 
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Thenewguy02 said:
Taking step in the next few days, my scores and thoughts so far:

UWSA1 239 (Before dedicated)

NBME 18 236 (4 weeks out, after first pass of material): Poorly worded questions with reliance on acronyms. I would not recommend this.

NBME 23 249(3 weeks out): Better exam overall, but still a similar number of questions that had words I wasn't familiar with.

NBME 24 250 (2 weeks out): Very similar to NBME 23, slightly harder in my opinion.

Free 120 (1.5 weeks out): 88% Questions were much more straightforward than Uworld

UWSA2 262: Easier than the standard Uworld blocks, but similar overall.

I did not use anki during preclinical years, but did finish USMLE-RX. I did a first pass of First aid and pathoma over my first 3 weeks of dedicated. Anki deck for micro, pharm and anatomy.
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Nice, those are good scores. What was your system during preclinical since you didn't do Anki?
 
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This is the breakdown for USMLE after may 4th.
Are we really having 0% pharmacotherapy questions on step?
IMG365072915201667186.jpeg


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0% pharmacotherapy but still pharmacology.

Pharmacotherapy- first line for a disease and more medical management
Pharmacology- MOA and ADRs, etc
 
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The change makes sense. Students who take step 1 after rotation have an unfair advantage on medical management questions. Not just because of clinical exposure but because they've prepared for and taken shelf exams, which mostly test medical management. These changes make step 1 a more coherent test, focusing on applying medical basic medical knowledge, with some emphasis on diagnosis, interpersonal skills and healthcare quality improvement, while step 2 will test clinical knowledge. Not that it will really matter after 2022.
 
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DubbiDoctor said:
The change makes sense. Students who take step 1 after rotation have an unfair advantage on medical management questions. Not just because of clinical exposure but because they've prepared for and taken shelf exams, which mostly test medical management. These changes make step 1 a more coherent test, focusing on applying medical basic medical knowledge, with some emphasis on diagnosis, interpersonal skills and healthcare quality improvement, while step 2 will test clinical knowledge. Not that it will really matter after 2022.
Click to expand...

To be fair, I don't think step 1 after rotation has a huge impact for most students (despite what the studies say). I currently go to one of those post-clinical step 1 schools. It has helped most of us more quickly get to the diagnosis and know what's going on clinically but often times we're so lost in what the hell pathophysiology is being asked of us. It's a steep curve to return to step 1 material after focusing on something totally different. For some students it's actually tanked their score relative to what I think they would be getting had they taken step 1 right after pre-clinical.

Of course, this is just based on who I hang out with and study with.
 
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DrStephenStrange said:
This is the breakdown for USMLE after may 4th.
Are we really having 0% pharmacotherapy questions on step? View attachment 296082

Sent from my SM-G973U using SDN mobile
Click to expand...

Actually a little disappointed about them taking away management for patient care. Thought that was one of my strengths thanks to sketchy pharm and micro.
 
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iforget2 said:
Actually a little disappointed about them taking away management for patient care. Thought that was one of my strengths thanks to sketchy pharm and micro.
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Ya damn I spent so much time jamming sketchy into my brain lol oh well. At least we still got adverse effects sketchy pharm nails those good
 
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alright repurchased Pathoma and will try to do this a few times over the next few weeks, dit another round of DIT about few stuff last week. Now simply UFAP. I have average of 66% first week in about 500 questions on uworld. 5 weeks to go. Will be doing UWSA1 on march 1. Keep studying guys this no pass/ fail is not affecting us 2020.
 
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JDDrCOX said:
alright repurchased Pathoma and will try to do this a few times over the next few weeks, dit another round of DIT about few stuff last week. Now simply UFAP. I have average of 66% first week in about 500 questions on uworld. 5 weeks to go. Will be doing UWSA1 on march 1. Keep studying guys this no pass/ fail is not affecting us 2020.
Click to expand...

How is DIT?
 
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Hello!

I'm taking Step 1 in May 2020. I just don't know how to devise a schedule as yet. I have already tried to follow one but it doesn't work out. I feel like i spend too much time on reviewing the Qbank.

If somebody could please send me a draft of a step 1 schedule, it would be really helpful! Thankyou :)
 
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DubbiDoctor said:
Sounds pretty great if you haven't even done all the subjects yet.

Week into dedicated and got my first 90+% on a UW block. Doing a bunch of amboss questions has really helped. Wish I had had completed it. In the end, likely the only Qbank I complete will be Uworld. Seems like there are only so many ways to ask step 1 questions. Not sure how many times I've answered that someone with a history of pheochromocytoma has medullary carcinoma. Doing tons of questions + zanki really is the key to step success. If you want a 265+, do all of zanki, all 4 qbanks, and all the NBMEs.
Click to expand...

How long does it take you to review questions? I'm basically done with Zanki with 80% matured right now, and it's been taking me an hour to review 40 questions. I've read on here people taking 3 hours to review 40 questions, and I'm not sure if I'm taking too little time to review questions. I'm trying to finish Kaplan, Uworld, and at least a large chunk of Amboss before taking Step, so I feel I shouldn't spend too long on reviews.
 
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iforget2 said:
How long does it take you to review questions? I'm basically done with Zanki with 80% matured right now, and it's been taking me an hour to review 40 questions. I've read on here people taking 3 hours to review 40 questions, and I'm not sure if I'm taking too little time to review questions. I'm trying to finish Kaplan, Uworld, and at least a large chunk of Amboss before taking Step, so I feel I shouldn't spend too long on reviews.
Click to expand...

it depends for me. If I missed a question because of a deficit in knowledge then I either annotate it in first aid or make Anki card out of it. If it was a deficit in reasoning, I write out the reasoning I missed and read it over then carry on. Takes me about an hour at max too. 3 hours seems like too long imo.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
it depends for me. If I missed a question because of a deficit in knowledge then I either annotate it in first aid or make Anki card out of it. If it was a deficit in reasoning, I write out the reasoning I missed and read it over then carry on. Takes me about an hour at max too. 3 hours seems like too long imo.
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Yea that’s more or less what I’ve been doing as well. When dedicated comes around, I think it would be more than do-able to finish 3 blocks a day with reviews which would take ~6 hours. Then keep up with zanki reviews which could take 2.5 hours. I could be wrong when the time comes, but I would really like to see as many questions as I can.
 
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iforget2 said:
How long does it take you to review questions? I'm basically done with Zanki with 80% matured right now, and it's been taking me an hour to review 40 questions. I've read on here people taking 3 hours to review 40 questions, and I'm not sure if I'm taking too little time to review questions. I'm trying to finish Kaplan, Uworld, and at least a large chunk of Amboss before taking Step, so I feel I shouldn't spend too long on reviews.
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Takes me about an hour to review a set. I mostly just try to read the whole explanation, and spend extra time on questions I got wrong. May consult FA or BB if there's something I don't understand. 3 hours is overkill. Better off doing more questions or anki than dwelling on questions you've already done. 3 sets a day is doable but a grind. I usually do two sets a day due to laziness - and having six full weeks of dedicated. 3 sets a day I'd be done in less than 4 weeks.
 
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iforget2 said:
Yea that’s more or less what I’ve been doing as well. When dedicated comes around, I think it would be more than do-able to finish 3 blocks a day with reviews which would take ~6 hours. Then keep up with zanki reviews which could take 2.5 hours. I could be wrong when the time comes, but I would really like to see as many questions as I can.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a solid plan. Right now I’m doing 1 hour Anki followed by a set of questions, then an hour of sketchy/finishing Anki. Evening is similar except it’s systems related work.
 
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