USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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ohmanwaddup said:
Thank you! also another dumb question, what do you mean by knowing how to set up direct or indirect? is just knowing which are direct and indirect fine Or Should I go over how to do each technique
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So they’ll basically give you a diagnosis and a treatment and you have to answer how to set that up based on the treatment they’re asking for. So they’ll give you a diagnosis and say you want to do muscle energy, how will you position the patient? Or they can get sneaky and say in what direction would you have the patient apply the activating force in muscle energy which is basically the same thing as the diagnosis so just make sure you read what they’re asking for carefully.
 
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Alright guys, I tried to start Pathoma with chapter 2 but I just couldn't do it, I just feel okay with the content and I'm realllllly not down to watch 4 hours of videos in the off chance I get a question or two right because of it. Maybe I'll end up regretting it lol but think I'm gonna let this one go.
 
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GoCards05 said:
I second the OME videos. Explains everything in 7 hours and you can play them at 1.5-2x speed. Honestly I’m not sure you really need the OMT deck. The OME videos plus knowing viscerosomatics like the back of your hand should be plenty for OMM. Besides some cranial and weird counterstrain stuff (like 3-4 questions total), the OMM on my exam was pretty straightforward. All viscerosomatics and knowing how set up a treatment based on direct vs indirect. I had maybe 2-3 Chapman’s point questions.
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I crap on my school a lot but there’s one thing they really did right - introduced viscerosomatics and Chapman’s points at the end of the first semester of M1, and have said straight up that they’re going to test us on them every test. So I’ve had... 7 total cumulative midterms and finals? now with those on them. It’s like the only thing I know. :laugh:
 
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AnatomyGrey12 said:
UWorld is literally the only resource that is really necessary for Step 2. The Dorian deck is excellent but it's large, you could probably get away with just doing the OME and UWorld cards in it and be just fine.

As for specific rotations just read up on your patients a ton. Google, up to date, etc. Rotations is more that than anything else. For COMAT's truelearn has comat specific questions that were helpful. Doing those 3x over the course of the month is a pretty straightforward way to guarantee an above average score.
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Do you recommend preparing for rotations if you have some time off >3 weeks before they start?
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Alright guys, I tried to start Pathoma with chapter 2 but I just couldn't do it, I just feel okay with the content and I'm realllllly not down to watch 4 hours of videos in the off chance I get a question or two right because of it. Maybe I'll end up regretting it lol but think I'm gonna let this one go.
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Me too. Reading pathoma again makes me wanna cry. Feel like I know everything from it from Zanki
 
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DUN DUN.

Finished UWorld at 75.8% correct, 81st percentile. Final score prediction: 245.29 +/- 5.58 with a CI of 234.35-256.23. Date adjusted prediction is 246.35.

As of today, I am free from Zanki. Reviews include:
-Zanki Step: 331,471 reviews
-lolnotacop: 67,743 reviews
-Zanki pharm: 54,218 reviews
TOTAL: 453,432 reviews

It's been real, guys. I likely will try to stay off of here until after I test....see you on the other side. Thanks everyone for everything.
 
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Hey guys, I've been lurking here for a while now, I got my score today so I thought I might share my perspective. First of all, I'm a DO student and I've always had the goal of scoring high enough so that most doors are still open for me. Also, the Reddit predictor is some kind of magic lol.

Nbme 16: 240
20: 228
21: 242
23: 233
18: 239
Uwsa 1: 249
Uwsa 2: 247
Free 120: 83%

Reddit predictor 246 (CI: 242-252)
Actual step 1: 246

I know it's not a crazy high score, but I'm still really happy with it 🙂
 
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aaa95 said:
Hey guys, I've been lurking here for a while now, I got my score today so I thought I might share my perspective. First of all, I'm a DO student and I've always had the goal of scoring high enough so that most doors are still open for me. Also, the Reddit predictor is some kind of magic lol.

Nbme 16: 240
20: 228
21: 242
23: 233
18: 239
Uwsa 1: 249
Uwsa 2: 247
Free 120: 83%

Reddit predictor 246 (CI: 242-252)
Actual step 1: 246

I know it's not a crazy high score, but I'm still really happy with it 🙂
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Great score! 245+ is baller. How close did u take UWSA1?
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
DUN DUN.

Finished UWorld at 75.8% correct, 81st percentile. Final score prediction: 245.29 +/- 5.58 with a CI of 234.35-256.23. Date adjusted prediction is 246.35.

As of today, I am free from Zanki. Reviews include:
-Zanki Step: 331,471 reviews
-lolnotacop: 67,743 reviews
-Zanki pharm: 54,218 reviews
TOTAL: 453,432 reviews

It's been real, guys. I likely will try to stay off of here until after I test....see you on the other side. Thanks everyone for everything.
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LFGGGG good luck friday!!
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Hold up, curious about this. You did truelearn questions 3x, on top of UWorld? I've always heard to just do UWorld so curious about this approach.

Also, curious about your comment about Dorian (cheesy, I'm assuming?): I'm assuming the deck is split into sub-decks when you mention doing the UWorld + OME specific ones. So, we can only do those cards and yield solid results? I'm definitely over doing tons of cards after this whole Step 1 experience, so the least I could do the better-- I owe it to my SO lol.
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So I actually didn't do UWorld for rotations, I started it about January and slowly started working towards a test day of May (which has now become August, thanks COVID). I probably should have started it a lot sooner, but I don't think it will hurt me at all, I'm about to start my second pass on Monday as I start my "dedicated" for Step 2. Kind of unorthodox but you'll see when you start delving into Step 2 stuff, studying for that test simply isn't as cut and dry as it is for Step 1.

The TrueLearn COMAT question sets only have about 100-150 max. It's pretty easy to blaze through them multiple times over a 4 week period. I put a lot of effort into just studying up on stuff I had seen on the wards and honestly didn't study terribly hard for the COMAT's and just relied on the TrueLearn questions and my Step 1 knowledge base and that was enough to get me honors on most of them. Our COMAT scores aren't reported, so it's just a passing line and then a cutoff for honors at 110 and it is really hard to get honors at my school so I just didn't really care that much to gun for the high COMAT scores. Passing COMAT's is pretty easy.

Dorian has a lot of redundant cards, so the same card will be in multiple places. It breaks it down into the usual IM, Surgery, Peds, Etc, and then under each section there is an OME subdeck and a UWorld subdeck. Ultimately I've just pulled those two subdecks out and done those pretty casually, probably won't even finish them completely by the time I test. We'll see how it turns out but overall I feel comfortable with my prep. My only NBME puts me at a mid-high 250s and I got a 700+ on our class COMSAE we had to take.
 
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GoCards05 said:
I second the OME videos. Explains everything in 7 hours and you can play them at 1.5-2x speed. Honestly I’m not sure you really need the OMT deck. The OME videos plus knowing viscerosomatics like the back of your hand should be plenty for OMM. Besides some cranial and weird counterstrain stuff (like 3-4 questions total), the OMM on my exam was pretty straightforward. All viscerosomatics and knowing how set up a treatment based on direct vs indirect. I had maybe 2-3 Chapman’s point questions.
Click to expand...
Had no clue about the free OME videos. These are so good. I wish this guy taught at my school.
 
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Can anyone comment on the Neuro and MSK on Comlex? My friend took it yesterday and said it was basically their whole exam. I struggle with both of these subjects so that makes me a little nervous
 
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Planned on waking up at 5am today so that I could definitely be tired for tonight....alarm didn't go off lol. Ended up waking up at like 6:30 and then dozing off a bit more. Whoops. What was everyone else's plan regarding sleep? Feel like I messed myself up and now I'll be up all night. Planning on waking up at 6 tomorrow so was hoping to be asleep by 10.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Planned on waking up at 5am today so that I could definitely be tired for tonight....alarm didn't go off lol. Ended up waking up at like 6:30 and then dozing off a bit more. Whoops. What was everyone else's plan regarding sleep? Feel like I messed myself up and now I'll be up all night. Planning on waking up at 6 tomorrow so was hoping to be asleep by 10.
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Maybe take a few melatonin to help fall asleep?
 
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Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
Maybe take a few melatonin to help fall asleep?
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Eh. Don't really wanna mess with something I've never done before the night before you know? Hopefully I'll still be tired lol. Also maybe it'll work out better because I won't have a sleep debt from today (I like a lot of sleep lol). Gonna try to get some exercise in today to help.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Planned on waking up at 5am today so that I could definitely be tired for tonight....alarm didn't go off lol. Ended up waking up at like 6:30 and then dozing off a bit more. Whoops. What was everyone else's plan regarding sleep? Feel like I messed myself up and now I'll be up all night. Planning on waking up at 6 tomorrow so was hoping to be asleep by 10.
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Good luck tomorrow!!! We were totally practice test twins throughout dedicated, now go avenge me
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Eh. Don't really wanna mess with something I've never done before the night before you know? Hopefully I'll still be tired lol. Also maybe it'll work out better because I won't have a sleep debt from today (I like a lot of sleep lol). Gonna try to get some exercise in today to help.
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That's fine. Was going to say might not be worth if if you've never used it
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Planned on waking up at 5am today so that I could definitely be tired for tonight....alarm didn't go off lol. Ended up waking up at like 6:30 and then dozing off a bit more. Whoops. What was everyone else's plan regarding sleep? Feel like I messed myself up and now I'll be up all night. Planning on waking up at 6 tomorrow so was hoping to be asleep by 10.
Click to expand...

Your plan was exactly my plan. Woke up at 5am on Tuesday but still barely slept and was awake when my alarm went off at 5am yesterday. I ended up taking a nap after the test, which was the worst, because I couldn’t fall asleep until nearly 5am today for that reason.

I’m going to try to exercise today - like hard exercise - to get myself to be tired enough to fall asleep at a normal time tonight so I can wake up on time tomorrow. That trick works for me sometimes if I accidentally sleep in. But just make sure you exercise early - too late and that will keep you up, too.
 
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calivianya said:
Your plan was exactly my plan. Woke up at 5am on Tuesday but still barely slept and was awake when my alarm went off at 5am yesterday. I ended up taking a nap after the test, which was the worst, because I couldn’t fall asleep until nearly 5am today for that reason.

I’m going to try to exercise today - like hard exercise - to get myself to be tired enough to fall asleep at a normal time tonight so I can wake up on time tomorrow. That trick works for me sometimes if I accidentally sleep in. But just make sure you exercise early - too late and that will keep you up, too.
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This is what DirtyMedicine says to do! Seems like a great approach. Wake up early af and exercise youre bound to knock out early
 
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GOAL: 220. Exam date: July 16

Took NBME 16 yesterday...got a 205. I'm pretty sure I went through all the questions and counted like 70% correct. Wtf lol Is this curve messed up?? If it really is just a ****ty curve, does anyone know what score range I'm at right now?

P.S. Sorry if this is a stupid question lol I haven't used sdn for step 1 stuff really
 
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oh4sure said:
GOAL: 220. Exam date: July 16

Took NBME 16 yesterday...got a 205. I'm pretty sure I went through all the questions and counted like 70% correct. Wtf lol Is this curve messed up?? If it really is just a ****ty curve, does anyone know what score range I'm at right now?

P.S. Sorry if this is a stupid question lol I haven't used sdn for step 1 stuff really
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Yes, the curve is completely messed up on the old exams. Big part of why they replaced them. For NBME 18 for example the curve shifted by over 10 points in the last few years.

90% right in 2015 was a 260
90% right in 2018 was a 248

If you were taking the exact same questions a few years earlier youd already be right near your target.
 
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oh4sure said:
GOAL: 220. Exam date: July 16

Took NBME 16 yesterday...got a 205. I'm pretty sure I went through all the questions and counted like 70% correct. Wtf lol Is this curve messed up?? If it really is just a ****ty curve, does anyone know what score range I'm at right now?

P.S. Sorry if this is a stupid question lol I haven't used sdn for step 1 stuff really
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I got a 200 with a 75% about a month ago, so yeah the curve is a mess lol
 
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efle said:
Yes, the curve is completely messed up on the old exams. Big part of why they replaced them. For NBME 18 for example the curve shifted by over 10 points in the last few years.

90% right in 2015 was a 260
90% right in 2018 was a 248

If you were taking the exact same questions a few years earlier youd already be right near your target.
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When were most of these exams made? I wonder how old NBME 13 is? What happened to NBME 1?
 
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Dantes said:
Are NBME 23 and 24 still under-predictive like the rest?
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Definitely. Just less than some of the others (particularly 22 and 20 which are insane and probably underpredict by like at least 20 honestly). Of the new ones 24 and 21 underpredict the least (probably 10 or so in my opinion)
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Definitely. Just less than some of the others (particularly 22 and 20 which are insane and probably underpredict by like at least 20 honestly). Of the new ones 24 and 21 underpredict the least (probably 10 or so in my opinion)
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this makes me feel so much better about my 228 on 22
 
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I’m so mad I could just drop dead right now. My school just pushed everything on campus back until August 10th.

So I could have had an extra month and a half to study for step instead of taking it when I didn’t feel ready. I just hope I did well enough that it doesn’t matter.
 
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HopeImakeit said:
this makes me feel so much better about my 228 on 22
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Thats what I got and i was livid. Got a 238 on 24 a week before and then 2 weeks later got a 256 on UWSA1 and my UWorld avg is 77% didnt make any sense. NBME 22 can suck it lol. How have your other practice tests gone? 22 I think is just a really poorly written unrepresentative unpredictive exam. Dont let it get you down
 
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Type2Fiber said:
24 predicted my exact score. Anecdotal, but I've generally heard the same from classmates
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Seriously? Doesnt that depend on how close you took it to your exam? Im shooting for 250+ and I got a 238 on 24 6-7 weeks out. Im ****ed if that predicts my score. score predictor has me at 251 and im 3.5 weeks out. feel like all the new ones underpredict
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Seriously? Doesnt that depend on how close you took it to your exam? Im shooting for 250+ and I got a 238 on 24 6-7 weeks out. Im ****ed if that predicts my score. score predictor has me at 251 and im 3.5 weeks out. feel like all the new ones underpredict
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NBME 22 was my exact score and NBME 24 was only 2 points below my score. Maybe it's better to think of your NBMEs as your floor and UWSAs as your ceiling.
 
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iforget2 said:
NBME 22 was my exact score and NBME 24 was only 2 points below my score. Maybe it's better to think of your NBMEs as your floor and UWSAs as your ceiling.
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I just have a hard time believing that taken 6-7 weeks out is gonna predict my score. The general consensus pretty much everywhere is that new NBMEs are horrible predictors. I think you may be an outlier
 
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Deecee2DO said:
I just have a hard time believing that taken 6-7 weeks out is gonna predict my score. The general consensus pretty much everywhere is that new NBMEs are horrible predictors. I think you may be an outlier
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I thought people have been saying that their scores fell between new NBMEs and UWSAs.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
I just have a hard time believing that taken 6-7 weeks out is gonna predict my score. The general consensus pretty much everywhere is that new NBMEs are horrible predictors. I think you may be an outlier
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Based on my n=1 experience and a general trend I personally have seen on Reddit, I second @iforget2 in that the NBMEs represent your floor, especially if there is a discrepancy between your NBMEs and UWorld scores. In my case, my NBMEs averaged out to ~230 while both UWSAs and the UWorld Qbank averaged out to ~247 and I ended up with a 235. I think if there is a discrepancy, you can realistically expect to land somewhere in between those two averages with the potential to score higher or lower. In many cases, the people who have scored lower than predicted (like me) had higher UWorld scores and lower NBME scores and the predictor gave UWorld too much credit when actually they landed right about where they should have based on all of their practice tests as a whole. Of all my practice tests, my NBMEs ended up being closer to my actual score though I think I could've scored a lot closer to my UWorld average if I hadn't had a handful of brain farts on stuff I would likely answer correctly 99 times out of 100. There's so many variables that play into this and while the predictor gives you a general ballpark of where you can expect to land, I would definitely still take it with a grain of salt and head into the exam with the expectation that you're probably more likely to fall somewhere in your CI rather than right at your predicted score.
 
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GoCards05 said:
Based on my n=1 experience and a general trend I personally have seen on Reddit, I second @iforget2 in that the NBMEs represent your floor, especially if there is a discrepancy between your NBMEs and UWorld scores. In my case, my NBMEs averaged out to ~230 while both UWSAs and the UWorld Qbank averaged out to ~247 and I ended up with a 235. I think if there is a discrepancy, you can realistically expect to land somewhere in between those two averages with the potential to score higher or lower. In many cases, the people who have scored lower than predicted (like me) had higher UWorld scores and lower NBME scores and the predictor gave UWorld too much credit when actually they landed right about where they should have based on all of their practice tests as a whole. Of all my practice tests, my NBMEs ended up being closer to my actual score though I think I could've scored a lot closer to my UWorld average if I hadn't had a handful of brain farts on stuff I would likely answer correctly 99 times out of 100. There's so many variables that play into this and while the predictor gives you a general ballpark of where you can expect to land, I would definitely still take it with a grain of salt and head into the exam with the expectation that you're probably more likely to fall somewhere in your CI rather than right at your predicted score.
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Damn that sucks for me then. Ive taken 2 NBMEs one was a 238 other was a 228 (which I personally think was a fluke). Regardless I dont see how as ****ty of an exam NBME 22 is how that could possibly be even remotely predictive whatsoever. Its literally the most horribly written test Ive ever seen second to COMLEX/COMSAEs. I would say NBME 18 and 24 are far better predictors than anything else when it comes to NBMEs but I am 100% sure 22 doesn't even come close. What was your UW Qbank avg that you finished with?
 
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I'm not sure If the predictor puts too much on Uworld. Ive played around and taken all my Q banks and left only NBMEs, and with my 3 NBMEs, one being failing at baseline (barf), and my highest being a 211 from a month ago, the predictor still had me at a 228 and my CI did not go below a 220, while with the Q banks and UWSA it was a 233.

Though at this point I honestly just want to pass lol. I'm exhausted and exhausted of being scared as the exam day gets closer and closer.
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Damn that sucks for me then. Ive taken 2 NBMEs one was a 238 other was a 228 (which I personally think was a fluke). Regardless I dont see how as ****ty of an exam NBME 22 is how that could possibly be even remotely predictive whatsoever. Its literally the most horribly written test Ive ever seen second to COMLEX/COMSAEs. I would say NBME 18 and 24 are far better predictors than anything else when it comes to NBMEs but I am 100% sure 22 doesn't even come close. What was your UW Qbank avg that you finished with?
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I finished at 75.4% and my UWSAs were 243 and 251 respectively so they both overpredicted me by a decent amount. I didn't take 22 but I did take 20, 21, 23 and 24 and definitely agree 24 is the most similar to the real deal (although 23 was closest to my actual score even though I thought it was hard and random af). 18 is similar in question style but the curve is absolutely brutal on that one so it loses some of its predictive value. Now I'm not saying you definitely can't hit your predicted score as there are tons of people who do but I think it's just better to have the expectation of falling within your CI and being pleasantly surprised if you hit your predicted or higher. While I'm very satisfied with my score and it's perfectly competitive for the field I want to pursue, I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a split second of disappointment that I didn't hit my predicted or higher as UWorld showed I was capable of it but it is what it is!
 
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ohmanwaddup said:
I'm not sure If the predictor puts too much on Uworld. Ive played around and taken all my Q banks and left only NBMEs, and with my 3 NBMEs, one being failing at baseline (barf), and my highest being a 211 from a month ago, the predictor still had me at a 228 and my CI did not go below a 220, while with the Q banks and UWSA it was a 233.

Though at this point I honestly just want to pass lol. I'm exhausted and exhausted of being scared as the exam day gets closer and closer.
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That's funny because when I take UWorld out of my predictor and just keep my NBMEs, it predicts me exactly where I ended up landing. I guess this just goes to show how variable the predictor can be and why it might be better to not lean too heavily on it. Just go in there and do your absolute best with no regrets and I'm sure you'll end up with a score you're happy with!
 
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