USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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I was feeling pretty good yesterday but I'm a little more anxious this morning (probably the adrenaline and wine wearing off). I swore I wouldn’t do this but I’m remembering questions that were absolutely verbatim from Zanki that I had a total brain fart on and missed despite seeing that info 100 times. I feel like I’ve failed my lord and savior now.
 
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For anyone with wide af confidence intervals-mine is the same and I think the reason is our baselines basically are outliers for many of us and screw up the interval. I mentioned this before and @fldoctorgirl shed some light on it after reading in reddit forums that some people are taking out their baseline if it is a true outlier and was completed way way far out from test day. I took out my 217 on NBME 21 which i took back in March and hadnt even started UWorld yet and my confidence interval went from 235-255 to 247-255. My more recent scores are much higher than my original NBME with a 238 on 24, 76% overall UW and Kaplan average where im consistently averaging in the high 70s and 80s. Bottom line if you have an outlier i think its best to take it out to be more accurate
 
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Deecee2DO said:
For anyone with wide af confidence intervals-mine is the same and I think the reason is our baselines basically are outliers for many of us and screw up the interval. I mentioned this before and @fldoctorgirl shed some light on it after reading in reddit forums that some people are taking out their baseline if it is a true outlier and was completed way way far out from test day. I took out my 217 on NBME 21 which i took back in March and hadnt even started UWorld yet and my confidence interval went from 235-255 to 247-255. My more recent scores are much higher than my original NBME with a 238 on 24, 76% overall UW and Kaplan average where im consistently averaging in the high 70s and 80s. Bottom line if you have an outlier i think its best to take it out to be more accurate
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I think you can date adjust the predictors though right? Wouldn't that eliminate the outliers?
 
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Deecee2DO said:
If i change the dates it doesnt change anything its weird
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Is your date-adjusted predicted score significantly different from your other one?

I agree that the early ones that were low skew it low - I have scores that are nearly 50 points apart. But it does reflect that in the estimated score a bit. My date-adjusted score is 4.5 points higher than the other score.

4.5 points is nothing, but it makes me smile.
 
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224 on NBME 21 today. SO many questions where I knew I've known the content before but just forgot. That hurts. This is coming off a 230 on NBME 24 a few weeks ago. I don't feel I've been working as hard as I should, got to pick things up! I think if I don't get a 235+ on UWSA2 I will postpone my step. Hopefully won't have to...
 
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236 NBME 24. Haven’t gotten to biochem in DIT yet, and am really behind so I’m wondering if I should skip it and do other things instead. I didn’t know any of the biochem questions on this test and the ones I got right were because I had a lucky guess or two.

I feel like spending time on biochem has a huge opportunity cost, as it will probably take me 4x longer to learn pathways I don’t remember than it will to review other subjects that may be higher yield.

I‘m okay with just not knowing anything if it‘s just a few questions...

What have people been seeing in regards to the amount of biochem on step 1, if you guys don’t mind sharing?
 
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calivianya said:
236 NBME 24. Haven’t gotten to biochem in DIT yet, and am really behind so I’m wondering if I should skip it and do other things instead. I didn’t know any of the biochem questions on this test and the ones I got right were because I had a lucky guess or two.

I feel like spending time on biochem has a huge opportunity cost, as it will probably take me 4x longer to learn pathways I don’t remember than it will to review other subjects that may be higher yield.

I‘m okay with just not knowing anything if it‘s just a few questions...

What have people been seeing in regards to the amount of biochem on step 1, if you guys don’t mind sharing?
Click to expand...

I saw a good amount of biochem and it was pretty nitty gritty in the details too. I think it’s helpful to know every enzyme in each step of all the pathways since that’s the level of detail that gets tested
 
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iforget2 said:
I saw a good amount of biochem and it was pretty nitty gritty in the details too. I think it’s helpful to know every enzyme in each step of all the pathways since that’s the level of detail that gets tested
Click to expand...

Thank you so much. I was really hoping that wasn’t going to be the answer, but it’s really helpful to know it.

I really wish I hadn’t pumped and dumped all the biochem now.
 
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calivianya said:
Thank you so much. I was really hoping that wasn’t going to be the answer, but it’s really helpful to know it.

I really wish I hadn’t pumped and dumped all the biochem now.
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Maybe I’m just repressing my exam memories but I don’t recall a ton of biochemistry on my exam. I think I had one question on lipid metabolism disorders, one on glycogen metabolism disorders, maybe one about the urea cycle and then one about hepatic encephalopathy. I didn’t think biochemistry was too wild on my exam at all but that very well could’ve just been my form. I felt like everything came straight from First Aid.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
For anyone with wide af confidence intervals-mine is the same and I think the reason is our baselines basically are outliers for many of us and screw up the interval. I mentioned this before and @fldoctorgirl shed some light on it after reading in reddit forums that some people are taking out their baseline if it is a true outlier and was completed way way far out from test day. I took out my 217 on NBME 21 which i took back in March and hadnt even started UWorld yet and my confidence interval went from 235-255 to 247-255. My more recent scores are much higher than my original NBME with a 238 on 24, 76% overall UW and Kaplan average where im consistently averaging in the high 70s and 80s. Bottom line if you have an outlier i think its best to take it out to be more accurate
Click to expand...

My confidence interval is 26 points wide. I have a high outlier, reducing the score on that by 9 points reduces my confidence interval to 18 points. My upper estimate gets lower, and the lower estimate gets higher.
 
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Lame story, but while I’m reviewing my test, just in case it helps anyone else with flexor digitorum profundus vs. superficialis...

I was an anatomy fellow last summer and taught the PAs, OTs, PTs, etc in the cadaver lab. I dissected out the finger tendons and thought it was really neat how the flexor digitorum superficialis tendon split and the profundus tendon went through to the distal phalanx. I decided to demonstrate it to the students I was teaching by holding the cadaver’s arm up and holding the middle phalanx steady with my left hand, and then tracking that particular FDP tendon below the wrist and pulling on it with my right hand, making the distal phalanx wave at the students.

One of the students screamed. Like, actually screamed, in the middle of the cadaver lab, because she was so freaked out about the dead person’s finger waving at her.

and that’s how I will remember forever that flexor digitorum profundus moves the distal phalanx.
 
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calivianya said:
Lame story, but while I’m reviewing my test, just in case it helps anyone else with flexor digitorum profundus vs. superficialis...

I was an anatomy fellow last summer and taught the PAs, OTs, PTs, etc in the cadaver lab. I dissected out the finger tendons and thought it was really neat how the flexor digitorum superficialis tendon split and the profundus tendon went through to the distal phalanx. I decided to demonstrate it to the students I was teaching by holding the cadaver’s arm up and holding the middle phalanx steady with my left hand, and then tracking that particular FDP tendon below the wrist and pulling on it with my right hand, making the distal phalanx wave at the students.

One of the students screamed. Like, actually screamed, in the middle of the cadaver lab, because she was so freaked out about the dead person’s finger waving at her.

and that’s how I will remember forever that flexor digitorum profundus moves the distal phalanx.
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I had missed that question. Thanks!
 
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M1ready said:
Taking 105b soon, any tips to prepare for this specific comsae?
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I’ve blocked out the details, but there were a lot of really specific things on this one that I for sure had never seen before. Honestly, my best tip is just to do what you can, and know it massively underpredicts so you don’t need to worry about your score too much if it’s low.
 
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Today has just been one of those days: brain is in a total fog, feel absolutely wiped out. Gonna just do Anki and review NBME 24, maybeee some light Pathoma watching. Used to get really angry at myself whenever this happened, but learning to be a bit kinder to myself throughout this process.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Today has just been one of those days: brain is in a total fog, feel absolutely wiped out. Gonna just do Anki and review NBME 24, maybeee some light Pathoma watching. Used to get really angry at myself whenever this happened, but learning to be a bit kinder to myself throughout this process.
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We've all been there :bang:
 
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The face you make when you realize that NBME had the balls to write a hypocalcemia question and write "25-hydroxyvitamin D" instead of "1,25" and that's why you got it wrong. Cause your brain saw 1,25 since that's what's relevant :smack:
 
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calivianya said:
I’ve blocked out the details, but there were a lot of really specific things on this one that I for sure had never seen before. Honestly, my best tip is just to do what you can, and know it massively underpredicts so you don’t need to worry about your score too much if it’s low.
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thanks for the reply! Yeah I've heard it is super under-predictive of the actual exam, which sucks because my school is making me take it and we have to get at least a 450 :/ but I'll try to hit HY areas.
 
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So in reviewing NBME 24, most of my mistakes are honestly just so dumb and frustrating. But, I feel like I'm not really lacking any content knowledge at this point. I finished my first pass (technically second since I did it throughout the year) of Pathoma on Thursday, and I was gonna do a 2nd. Thinking it may be a waste of time? It's just kind of annoying cause content issues are easy to fix, stupid mistakes I don't know what to do about lol
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
So in reviewing NBME 24, most of my mistakes are honestly just so dumb and frustrating. But, I feel like I'm not really lacking any content knowledge at this point. I finished my first pass (technically second since I did it throughout the year) of Pathoma on Thursday, and I was gonna do a 2nd. Thinking it may be a waste of time? It's just kind of annoying cause content issues are easy to fix, stupid mistakes I don't know what to do about lol
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I would try to do more questions daily. You can rewatch CH1-3 of Pathoma, but at this point I don't think it's necessary to do the whole thing all over again.
 
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Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
Guys the unthinkable is happening to people. People are getting score adjustments 3 days after receiving score report. Someone online went from 245 -> 235
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for some reason I have a feeling this person is trolling, ive never heard of a score adjustment happening in ~3 years of following this exam. Someone correct me if im wrong though
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
So in reviewing NBME 24, most of my mistakes are honestly just so dumb and frustrating. But, I feel like I'm not really lacking any content knowledge at this point. I finished my first pass (technically second since I did it throughout the year) of Pathoma on Thursday, and I was gonna do a 2nd. Thinking it may be a waste of time? It's just kind of annoying cause content issues are easy to fix, stupid mistakes I don't know what to do about lol
Click to expand...
100% agree with @HopeImakeit. It comes down to test taking skills at this point imo. Youve seen everything so honing skills on getting the right answer when you dont know the answer comes into play using reasoning and intuition which I think separates the 240s from the 250s/60s club. You know so much rn the best thing you could do is more questions which will perfect your test taking strategy
 
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Deecee2DO said:
100% agree with @HopeImakeit. It comes down to test taking skills at this point imo. Youve seen everything so honing skills on getting the right answer when you dont know the answer comes into play using reasoning and intuition which I think separates the 240s from the 250s/60s club. You know so much rn the best thing you could do is more questions which will perfect your test taking abilities
Click to expand...

Im with you, developing the test taking skills is more important than knowing every word in first aid. Ive gotten so many questions right on material that I didn't know very well, just by using some elimination/reasoning
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
Im with you, developing the test taking skills is more important than knowing every word in first aid. Ive gotten so many questions right on material that I didn't know very well, just by using some elimination/reasoning
Click to expand...
Btw, thank you soo much for sharing that free NBME answers website. Saving my butt, I was always trying to decode the old NBME answers site before lol
 
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Deecee2DO said:
100% agree with @HopeImakeit. It comes down to test taking skills at this point imo. Youve seen everything so honing skills on getting the right answer when you dont know the answer comes into play using reasoning and intuition which I think separates the 240s from the 250s/60s club. You know so much rn the best thing you could do is more questions which will perfect your test taking strategy
Click to expand...
So would you recommend doing more blocks of UWorld in a day, or adding in questions from another qbank? Or maybe just do some more NBMEs instead? Orrrr, I could do more blocks of UWorld a day so that I finish earlier and then do my incorrects?
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
So would you recommend doing more blocks of UWorld in a day, or adding in questions from another qbank? Or maybe just do some more NBMEs instead? Orrrr, I could do more blocks of UWorld a day so that I finish earlier and then do my incorrects?
Click to expand...
It depends on how much time you got left until your test day and how well you remember your incorrects. If you are making flashcards out of your incorrects then adding another qbank is the best option. I am doing Kaplan Qbank (I like it more than Amboss, although it has some fkd up qs) on top of my 2nd pass of Uw right now and it has really helped me! I believe it was the main factor that bumped 10% my latest score on NBME 19 (85,5%) compared to NBME 21 (75%) in just a week.
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
Im with you, developing the test taking skills is more important than knowing every word in first aid. Ive gotten so many questions right on material that I didn't know very well, just by using some elimination/reasoning
Click to expand...
My goal for the next month. I've done about 2000 practice questions, hoping to at least double that amount before test day.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
So would you recommend doing more blocks of UWorld in a day, or adding in questions from another qbank? Or maybe just do some more NBMEs instead? Orrrr, I could do more blocks of UWorld a day so that I finish earlier and then do my incorrects?
Click to expand...

Just my two cents from the other side: the real exam is very similar in style to UWorld so if you don’t remember your incorrects, I would redo them. And honestly I wished I had finished UWorld more than 2 days out because I was seriously burnt out there at the end and could’ve used more than 1 UWorld-free day. If I could go back, I would’ve tried to finish UWorld Sunday or Monday for a Friday test and hammered in Zanki those last few days instead of focusing on questions because I feel like everyday a question pops into my head that was a verbatim Zanki card that I missed because I kind of slacked off on Zanki those last couple weeks trying to finish UWorld. There are a lot more basic fact recall questions on the exam than I was expecting and with the nerves, it can make those things easy to forget. Again this is just my opinion and you should do whatever you think would be most helpful for you.
 
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Anyone taking the exam after the content change date (1st September)? Needed advise on how you guys plan to prep for the increased Ethics, Communication and Safety questions.
Thanks
 
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GoCards05 said:
Just my two cents from the other side: the real exam is very similar in style to UWorld so if you don’t remember your incorrects, I would redo them. And honestly I wished I had finished UWorld more than 2 days out because I was seriously burnt out there at the end and could’ve used more than 1 UWorld-free day. If I could go back, I would’ve tried to finish UWorld Sunday or Monday for a Friday test and hammered in Zanki those last few days instead of focusing on questions because I feel like everyday a question pops into my head that was a verbatim Zanki card that I missed because I kind of slacked off on Zanki those last couple weeks trying to finish UWorld. There are a lot more basic fact recall questions on the exam than I was expecting and with the nerves, it can make those things easy to forget. Again this is just my opinion and you should do whatever you think would be most helpful for you.
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I appreciate this! I'm on track to finish UWorld on Monday before my Friday exam if I keep my current schedule going. Tbh I don't think I'll have time to squeeze in my incorrects, maybe just subject specific like biochem. I have a document with notes on my incorrects that I'm going to try and read through 2-3x until my exam.
 
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