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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Worst part of board studying? all the little think\gs that end of taking an hour or more out of your day. grocery shopping, chores, meal prep, etc. Today I would have finished my cards before noon, which usually means a great day. instead I realized I was out of allergy pills, and it took 20+ min to go get more and totally through me out of my groove.
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
Worst part of board studying? all the little think\gs that end of taking an hour or more out of your day. grocery shopping, chores, meal prep, etc. Today I would have finished my cards before noon, which usually means a great day. instead I realized I was out of allergy pills, and it took 20+ min to go get more and totally through me out of my groove.
Click to expand...

I feel you. I'm debating moving apartments and that's taking more mental energy away from board prep than I realized.
 
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5 days out from gameday. 259 on UWSA2, 86% on free 120 yesterday. Test fatigue was real on the 120, was hoping to break 90%, but in any case I am just ready to be done

Gonna review the next few days and chill. Spending more time thinking about post step vacation plans than studying at this point. COVID really messing everything up
 
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Type2Fiber said:
5 days out from gameday. 259 on UWSA2, 86% on free 120 yesterday. Test fatigue was real on the 120, was hoping to break 90%, but in any case I am just ready to be done

Gonna review the next few days and chill. Spending more time thinking about post step vacation plans than studying at this point. COVID really messing everything up
Click to expand...
Are you me? Because these scores are super similar to mine (when asleep, dreaming).

You're gonna kill it. Strong work!
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
I've only studied for step, and havent done metabolism, half of neuro, and 10% of pharm. I got a 481, which allegedly is actually a 581 (people have told me to add 100 to my score IDK lol)? OMM was my worst score by far, but I was still able to pull off a not terrible score without it.
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Which COMSAE version is this that you/everyone refers to, with the ~100 point difference?
 
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Me: *sees image of hypersegmented neutrohphils* "okay, this is totally megaloblastic anemia, impaired DNA synthesis, blah blah"
Me: "you know what, let me read and double check the stem just in case, I got time"
Me: "hmm, there is also pancytopenia. let me go down a rabbit hole and pick a completely different answer even though I knew it was impaired DNA synthesis just based on the photo alone"

At least I learned that megaloblastic anemia can also have thrombocytopenia and leukopenia, cause I somehow have never heard of that?? But, c'mon brainnnnn.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Me: *sees image of hypersegmented neutrohphils* "okay, this is totally megaloblastic anemia, impaired DNA synthesis, blah blah"
Me: "you know what, let me read and double check the stem just in case, I got time"
Me: "hmm, there is also pancytopenia. let me go down a rabbit hole and pick a completely different answer even though I knew it was impaired DNA synthesis just based on the photo alone"

At least I learned that megaloblastic anemia can also have thrombocytopenia and leukopenia, cause I somehow have never heard of that?? But, c'mon brainnnnn.
Click to expand...
Heme onc and SBL are the bane of my existence. I'm heavily considering totally redoing the zanki cards for it
 
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Do yall feel confident when picking the majority of your answer choices? I swear most of the time I'm doing a whole "use the force" kinda thing and just going with gut instincts rather than being able to reason through the solidly pick and answer. makes me nervous for the rest of medicine after step lol.
 
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Not to do a hat trick of posts but, did my block for the day. 60% which is a bummer, silver lining is that it was still above the average, albeit only by 1%. A preliminary scroll through shows a lot of stupid mistakes. 10 glaring ones that pop out from just not reading the question all the way, but I suppose that's what I get for starting a timed exam right after drinking 3 glasses of water lol
 
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0.6182.4285714
0.65194
0.7205.5714286
0.75217.1428571
0.78224.0857143
0.8228.7142857
0.82233.3428571
0.84237.9714286
0.86242.6
0.88247.2285714
0.9251.8571429
0.92256.4857143
0.95263.4285714
0.975269.2142857
1275
Just for fun - does anyone want to critique this table of % total correct on Step 1 and its corresponding three-digit score. This is accounting for the fact that 10% of the 280 are experimental question ... so the total number of scored questions become 252. I then assume that 65% (163.8 questions right) is necessary to pass Step 1 with a 194 and getting a 100% (252 questions right) would give you a score of 275. Between 163.8 and 252 is a total of 88.2 questions. Between 275 and 194 is a total of 81 points. This means that each question is roughly equal to 0.91 points. In other words, every 1% change in your amount correct roughly equates to a +/- of 2.29 to your three-digit score.
 
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aaronrodgers said:
0.6182.4285714
0.65194
0.7205.5714286
0.75217.1428571
0.78224.0857143
0.8228.7142857
0.82233.3428571
0.84237.9714286
0.86242.6
0.88247.2285714
0.9251.8571429
0.92256.4857143
0.95263.4285714
0.975269.2142857
1275
Just for fun - does anyone want to critique this table of % total correct on Step 1 and its corresponding three-digit score. This is accounting for the fact that 10% of the 280 are experimental question ... so the total number of scored questions become 252. I then assume that 65% (163.8 questions right) is necessary to pass Step 1 with a 194 and getting a 100% (252 questions right) would give you a score of 275. Between 163.8 and 252 is a total of 88.2 questions. Between 275 and 194 is a total of 81 points. This means that each question is roughly equal to 0.91 points. In other words, every 1% change in your amount correct roughly equates to a +/- of 2.29 to your three-digit score.
Click to expand...

damn 80% doesn't even get you in the 230s??????
 
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aaronrodgers said:
0.6182.4285714
0.65194
0.7205.5714286
0.75217.1428571
0.78224.0857143
0.8228.7142857
0.82233.3428571
0.84237.9714286
0.86242.6
0.88247.2285714
0.9251.8571429
0.92256.4857143
0.95263.4285714
0.975269.2142857
1275
Just for fun - does anyone want to critique this table of % total correct on Step 1 and its corresponding three-digit score. This is accounting for the fact that 10% of the 280 are experimental question ... so the total number of scored questions become 252. I then assume that 65% (163.8 questions right) is necessary to pass Step 1 with a 194 and getting a 100% (252 questions right) would give you a score of 275. Between 163.8 and 252 is a total of 88.2 questions. Between 275 and 194 is a total of 81 points. This means that each question is roughly equal to 0.91 points. In other words, every 1% change in your amount correct roughly equates to a +/- of 2.29 to your three-digit score.
Click to expand...

I've always been confused by these percentages. Isn't the median for UW a 63%? I know it's not an exact extrapolation, but wouldn't this table mean half the people would fail? We know this isn't the case, however.
 
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aaronrodgers said:
0.6182.4285714
0.65194
0.7205.5714286
0.75217.1428571
0.78224.0857143
0.8228.7142857
0.82233.3428571
0.84237.9714286
0.86242.6
0.88247.2285714
0.9251.8571429
0.92256.4857143
0.95263.4285714
0.975269.2142857
1275
Just for fun - does anyone want to critique this table of % total correct on Step 1 and its corresponding three-digit score. This is accounting for the fact that 10% of the 280 are experimental question ... so the total number of scored questions become 252. I then assume that 65% (163.8 questions right) is necessary to pass Step 1 with a 194 and getting a 100% (252 questions right) would give you a score of 275. Between 163.8 and 252 is a total of 88.2 questions. Between 275 and 194 is a total of 81 points. This means that each question is roughly equal to 0.91 points. In other words, every 1% change in your amount correct roughly equates to a +/- of 2.29 to your three-digit score.
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that passing is a 50-55%. I think the USMLE website also states that passing requires 50-60% correct. 74% on UWorld very roughly correlates to high 240s on the real deal so while it's not an exact match, I would think 80% on the real deal should get you at least low to mid 230s.
 
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iforget2 said:
I've always been confused by these percentages. Isn't the median for UW a 63%? I know it's not an exact extrapolation, but wouldn't this table mean half the people would fail? We know this isn't the case, however.
Click to expand...
This scale looks worse than the scaling on the new NBMEs
 
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GoCards05 said:
I read somewhere that passing is a 50-55%. I think the USMLE website also states that passing requires 50-60% correct. 74% on UWorld very roughly correlates to high 240s on the real deal so while it's not an exact match, I would think 80% on the real deal should get you at least low to mid 230s.
Click to expand...

Good points. Obviously I made assumptions that a passing score is 65%/194 and the highest was a score of 100%/275. I hope you’re right with the lower passing threshold - that would shift the scale favorably.
 
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I find it difficult to believe, I've always heard the curve on the USMLE is more lenient than those on any NBMEs. Plus I've come across so many posts of "I counted at least 25 confirmed mistakes" and still ending up with >260.
 
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Is there evidence to suggest it is scored in that kind of linear fashion? I suspect it is but I haven't seen anything promising certain questions aren't weighted according to difficulty. Also I thought the test was out of 300. You know you've adjusted your expectations when you don't even know what 100% gets you hahaha
 
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Cath Up said:
Is there evidence to suggest it is scored in that kind of linear fashion? I suspect it is but I haven't seen anything promising certain questions aren't weighted according to difficulty. Also I thought the test was out of 300. You know you've adjusted your expectations when you don't even know what 100% gets you hahaha
Click to expand...
I think this is just a curve someone made up on reddit
 
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aaronrodgers said:
0.6182.4285714
0.65194
0.7205.5714286
0.75217.1428571
0.78224.0857143
0.8228.7142857
0.82233.3428571
0.84237.9714286
0.86242.6
0.88247.2285714
0.9251.8571429
0.92256.4857143
0.95263.4285714
0.975269.2142857
1275
Just for fun - does anyone want to critique this table of % total correct on Step 1 and its corresponding three-digit score. This is accounting for the fact that 10% of the 280 are experimental question ... so the total number of scored questions become 252. I then assume that 65% (163.8 questions right) is necessary to pass Step 1 with a 194 and getting a 100% (252 questions right) would give you a score of 275. Between 163.8 and 252 is a total of 88.2 questions. Between 275 and 194 is a total of 81 points. This means that each question is roughly equal to 0.91 points. In other words, every 1% change in your amount correct roughly equates to a +/- of 2.29 to your three-digit score.
Click to expand...
The error here is that USMLE is graded on a log scale rather than a linear one. Meaning low scores have bigger differences than high scores. The difference between a 210 and 220 or a 220 and 230 is bigger than 260 and 270 or 270 and 280 ect... Also USMLE's official max score is 300, it's just that nobody ever gets that score.
 
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DrStephenStrange said:
The error here is that USMLE is graded on a log scale rather than a linear one. Meaning low scores have bigger differences than high scores. The difference between a 210 and 220 or a 220 and 230 is bigger than 260 and 270 or 270 and 280 ect... Also USMLE's official max score is 300, it's just that nobody ever gets that score.
Click to expand...
is it 300? always thought it was 280...cuz no one has gotten at/above 280 i think. plus the exam has 280 questions.
 
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bluelamin said:
is it 300? always thought it was 280...cuz no one has gotten at/above 280 i think. plus the exam has 280 questions.
Click to expand...
Yeah its 300. Its not a linear score. Like missing one could drop you from a 300 to a 280 but then it may take 3 more missed ones to go from 280 to 270. Its not just a straight shot
 
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Just downloaded an alarm app that you can't snooze and you have to solve math problems to shut it off. It's about to get real.
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
hahaha I need this, I set my alarm to 630 every morning but don't end up getting out of bed until 8
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Same, had an alarm set for 7 and got out of bed at 9:30 ha. Every night I tell myself I won't do it, but I almost unconsciously turn off the alarm so it's clearly not effective haha. Then I'm all annoyed for the rest of the day because I'm like "I could've been done with xyz by now!". Life's rough.
 
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im going to take my first NBME today. I have 13, 15, 16 17, 19 all the free one. I was just going to do 15, but is there any of those that would be better as a first time exam?
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
im going to take my first NBME today. I have 13, 15, 16 17, 19 all the free one. I was just going to do 15, but is there any of those that would be better as a first time exam?
Click to expand...
I took 16 as a baseline, on the reddit predictor sheet it has the highest R2 I think? The curve on all of them sucks (I got like 80% correct and it was a 215). I did it pre-UWorld to get a true baseline.
 
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229 on NBME 24 today. It was the the least WTF of all the new NBMEs IMO but there were definitely a bunch of little factoids that I should've known but just forgot. I think it's definitely a good one to do if you want to do just one new NBME.
 
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So I was watching DIT and they gave a better explanation of capitation. Capitation seems to be when a physician is paid for a certain amount of time/number of patients (12 hour shift for an ER docs/ HMOs meeting certain numbers). I remember someone asking about this earlier and it confused me too, this makes more sense than the first aid explanation.
 
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I was paying one of my siblings (selected at random) $20 every time I didn't email them by 8am. Recently fell off the bandwagon for a few days without paying and they didn't notice (thanks, siblings) but probably a good idea to get that going again.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
18 for sure. Do you plan to do UWSA 2 and free 120? If not idk if doing 3 more NBMEs would be worth your time imo since youve already done 4 and if you do one more youll have done 5 thats honestly plenty
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yea i have time to take uwsa2 and free 120 like 5 days before my exam.
 
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Jesus I failed. NBME 15 Equivalent to a 190. Since I have a 60th percentile in Uworld I'm kinda shocked. It had a lot of my weaker subjects, and I havent finished, neuro, started metabolism or biostats, but still this is awful. This is what doing 85% of Zanki gets me? Good God. Any advice is appreciated.
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
Jesus I failed. NBME 15 Equivalent to a 190. Since I have a 60th percentile in Uworld I'm kinda shocked. It had a lot of my weaker subjects, and I havent finished, neuro, started metabolism or biostats, but still this is awful. This is what doing 85% of Zanki gets me? Good God. Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Good thing is 15 has one of the lowest correlations to Step 1 with an R of like .4 and UW % has the highest. My advice is to Prioritize doing new questions over Zanki (my personal opinion is doing UW and another bank is better than UW 2x) and try and check your breakdown in UWorld to see what your lowest percentile subjects are. Spend 1-2 days per week doing questions on only those weak subjects. Keep up anki on bugs and drugs since i think anki is actually really good for them. Whens your test
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
Jesus I failed. NBME 15 Equivalent to a 190. Since I have a 60th percentile in Uworld I'm kinda shocked. It had a lot of my weaker subjects, and I havent finished, neuro, started metabolism or biostats, but still this is awful. This is what doing 85% of Zanki gets me? Good God. Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...

Old NBMEs don't really correlate so I wouldn't worry so much about the score. You already have identified your weak spots, so I bet if you work on those you will see a pretty big increase, especially neuro
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Good thing is 15 has one of the lowest correlations to Step 1 with an R of like .4. My advice is to Prioritize new questions over Zanki and try and check your breakdown in UWorld to see what your lowest percentile subjects are. Spend 1-2 days per week doing questions on only those weak subjects. Keep up anki on bugs and drugs since i think anki is actually really good for them. Whens your test
Click to expand...
Yeah I did notice that when I put it into the predictor that my score barely moved so that was kinda nice. I feel like I have to keep up with zanki, I just dont learn material better any other way, but luckily I get all my reviews done by noon everyday, and will have an extra 5 hours a night for content review or extra practice questions after today (still in class technically). My Step is July 16th, Comlex is July 2nd. Uword is 64% done and I've got 2/3 of kaplan to play with once I finish Uworld and start doing my in-corrects.

I'm really glad I finished my cards before I started this review, I would not have the motivation to finish after today's performance lol.
 
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