USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Please share. Last night I convinced myself it was all going to be okay, today I'm back to "I failed". SOS I'm going to lose it.

Find yourself a good distraction to obsess over! That’s all we can do at this point, really. I’m a gamer and just played through The Last of Us Part 2 and it’s all I can think about. I’m starting a new play through for trophy collecting now. :laugh:

Still checked to see if my permit is gone today, though - those don’t disappear until the Sundays before the results come out, right?
 
So I’m done. Idk man idk. I just feel empty. I feel that the comlex boogieman was so big and I was freaking out so hard yesterday and this morning that when I finally sat down at the computer all my worry was spent. I was just dead inside the whole time. Made the poor choice of not reviewing dyslipidema during lunch and then I had 4 of them offer the next two blocks. Ugh.

my exam didn’t focus on one subject or one portion of OMM which was good and bad. Tons of counterstrain which is a piss Off, maybe 20 biostats questions total so I wish I had not spent so much time on it. Some really weird NTT questions thrown in there

probs going to have to retake it. Maybe I’ll just drop out of medicine all together idk, not in the best head space.
 
Taking COMLEX 1 Monday - Plan is to go through sketchy pharm and micro, pixorize for dyslipidemias, OMM, and msk nerve lesions until Monday to cover high yields.
Does this seem like a somewhat logical plan?I can't tell cuz my brain is fried right now lol
 
In regards to doing UWorld incorrects for people that do them am I supposed to be getting 90%+ on them since I already did them once? Somehow I am actually getting 10% lower than my normal UWorld blocks. Is this bad? Seems like I must not be learning from my mistakes or maybe because i am getting further into the bank that my current incorrect questions are actually much harder questions since I am much further along in my prep. The national average on some of my incorrect blocks are like 50%

for my n=1...i averaged 71 on my incorrects (national avg ~50-55 usually) i like to think the number would be ~85 if we were redoing corrects added in.
 
God this feels so anticlimatic.
Yep. This statement touches my soul. COMLEX level 1 is rotting in hell, but it’s left it’s indelible mark on the weary DO student as a reminder of why we should have just retaken the MCAT and never experienced the fairy tale land of osteopathy in the first place.
 
Taking COMLEX 1 Monday - Plan is to go through sketchy pharm and micro, pixorize for dyslipidemias, OMM, and msk nerve lesions until Monday to cover high yields.
Does this seem like a somewhat logical plan?I can't tell cuz my brain is fried right now lol
learn the sacral/lumbar countstrain.
 
Yep. This statement touches my soul. COMLEX level 1 is rotting in hell, but it’s left it’s indelible mark on the weary DO student as a reminder of why we should have just retaken the MCAT and never experienced the fairy tale land of osteopathy in the first place.
Its just like, this is what I spent two years on? this is what I did all of zanki in a year for? To just feel dead inside doing 400 questions? I was never like " Oh snap just killed this block" or "Damn that block wrecked me". It was all. "all right section two done. alright time for a break. alright two sections left" Just what the hell. The MCAT actually felt like an something. I don't even care right now if I have to retake, I care that it'll be so inconvenient to retake it.
 
So I’m done. Idk man idk. I just feel empty. I feel that the comlex boogieman was so big and I was freaking out so hard yesterday and this morning that when I finally sat down at the computer all my worry was spent. I was just dead inside the whole time. Made the poor choice of not reviewing dyslipidema during lunch and then I had 4 of them offer the next two blocks. Ugh.

my exam didn’t focus on one subject or one portion of OMM which was good and bad. Tons of counterstrain which is a piss Off, maybe 20 biostats questions total so I wish I had not spent so much time on it. Some really weird NTT questions thrown in there

probs going to have to retake it. Maybe I’ll just drop out of medicine all together idk, not in the best head space.

Nah, we all feel like that. I guarantee no one here is going to have to retake it - most of us have had awesome NBMEs and UWSAs and we know our stuff and we feel awful because the test was awful, not because we did badly. Well, we know our stuff except for maybe OMM, but let’s be real, almost nobody really knows that stuff well unless they’re planning to go into it.


Taking COMLEX 1 Monday - Plan is to go through sketchy pharm and micro, pixorize for dyslipidemias, OMM, and msk nerve lesions until Monday to cover high yields.
Does this seem like a somewhat logical plan?I can't tell cuz my brain is fried right now lol

Yeah! Sounds good. Some people have been having crazy amounts of biostats (like me LOL) so it wouldn’t hurt to run through all of the equations again just to make sure you know them. It’s free points if you do the math right, unlike everything else that’s super nebulous.
 
So I’m done. Idk man idk. I just feel empty. I feel that the comlex boogieman was so big and I was freaking out so hard yesterday and this morning that when I finally sat down at the computer all my worry was spent. I was just dead inside the whole time. Made the poor choice of not reviewing dyslipidema during lunch and then I had 4 of them offer the next two blocks. Ugh.

my exam didn’t focus on one subject or one portion of OMM which was good and bad. Tons of counterstrain which is a piss Off, maybe 20 biostats questions total so I wish I had not spent so much time on it. Some really weird NTT questions thrown in there

probs going to have to retake it. Maybe I’ll just drop out of medicine all together idk, not in the best head space.
Ugh sorry you also had this experience. On the bright side at least it seems like all of us are in the same boat so hopefully the curve is generous?
 
hey guys-
doing comlex at the moment in 4-6 weeks or so with the step 1 exam in the future(after comlex but. no date yet)

Currently:
Renal: Finish Bnb in a couple of days+ankiKingDeck then hit the Uworld QUestions (took uworld 6-7 months ago and din't score well so dont remember much)
heme
Gi
biostate
Review Endo/repro

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Need to start reviewing OMM b.c i stuck balls at it and haven't review it along time. must do flashcards for it to drill in my brain?
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Then need to do practice tests.
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Should I be doing mixed blocks right now or just forget about it and do the current subject? Did ankiKing for all the other previous subjects (<50% mature) so keep up with anki esp for pharm and cardio, other heavy systems?
--
any advice appreciated
 
Ugh sorry you also had this experience. On the bright side at least it seems like all of us are in the same boat so hopefully the curve is generous?
I hope so, I’m a little worried how apathetic I was during the whole thing. Idk if dedicated emotionally fried me or something but I had very little “drive” during the whole exam. It just felt like a chore and I’m worried that May have caused me to do actually terrible
 
I hope so, I’m a little worried how apathetic I was during the whole thing. Idk if dedicated emotionally fried me or something but I had very little “drive” during the whole exam. It just felt like a chore and I’m worried that May have caused me to do actually terrible
I kind of felt the same way, like I was on autopilot. It was just such a terrible test. Hopefully everything turns out fine, I'm trying to take comfort in the fact that it seems most people feel this way after it and most people pass.
 
Idk how many of yall have comlex left to take but thought I would do a write up regardless.

Taking the exam:

Timing was not really an issue on my end. I finished with 40min to spare and would have had more but I was dragging by the last block and a half. Everyone had always said how long the stems were so I was expecting to have much more trouble, but at least on my form they were all Uworld length or shorter. It sucked not having control over break time but the one caveat is that it keeps you grinding.

Exam content:

My exam felt like it had a bit of everything, but def had a decent portion of repro, MSK, and neuro. MSK anatomy in particular. Very little biostats and after the morning section I think I only had 2-3 questions the rest of the exam. MSK was a lot of gritty anatomy, I would recommend knowing all the movements, Arterys, and nerves for the shoulder and upper back. my OMM was all over the place. The majority was def VS but I had a fair amount of counterstrain (bleh) but also a decent amount of sacrum and innominate (yay). People had always said how vauge the questions were and I missinterpreted this. I thought I would be that I would not understand what the questions actually said (IE convoluted ways to describe pathology). instead I felt that they wanted step 6 and I only knew steps 1-5, or that they just did not give enough info. Micro was usually fine, but I had quite a micro questions where I had no idea what bug they were describing, and they wanted me to say what the virulence factor was. big sad right there.

If I was going to tell someone to study things it would be: CS for the sacral/Lumbar area, Dyslipidemas, VS, Shoulder anatomy, and repro histo.

Feeling afterwards: you only need to scroll up to see how I felt lol. As I have said before the exam just feels anticlimactic. Maybe Zanki prepared me more than I thought but when I sat down and was not instantly slapped in the face with the phallus of AT STill, I realized I had made this exam way scarier in my head than I needed to.
 
Should I be doing mixed blocks right now or just forget about it and do the current subject? Did ankiKing for all the other previous subjects (<50% mature) so keep up with anki esp for pharm and cardio, other heavy systems?

MSK being a nightmare seems to be the current flavor regardless of what other organ system was emphasized, so definitely know MSK cold.

As far as random blocks vs. subject blocks, I sort of did both. I went through my subjects 1x1, but I was doing all my practice questions in random blocks the whole time.

@calivianya apparenrly some people have heard that there may not be step scores this week? RIP us I hope it's not true

Ugh, that sucks. I’m still getting my comlex score next week as far as I’m aware, so at least I’ll have that to keep me company while waiting for my step score. Really wanted it to be the other way around so I didn’t let my soon-to-be disappointing (but passing LOL) comlex score psych me out.
 
Scores ARE coming next week for those who took recently

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I did the same thing. Just try and stop thinking about it! I'm sure you killed it with your scores.
Literally cant wait to see how you did lol we had similar practice scores! I really think you nailed it. Testing in 3 weeks and taking 18 tmrw! (Im nervous for 18) lol
 
Was just about to post this and tag @calivianya ! Don't know if happy or stressed lol

I’m thrilled. I was pissed on Friday! The wait is almost over!!!! :soexcited:

In other news I counted more I got wrong today. I don't know how everyone is making it through the wait.

I’ve decided I accidentally did the best thing possible - took them two days apart and took step first. I literally only looked at OMM in between, so there’s no chance of me seeing stuff I know I missed on step accidentally. The wait has not been too bad for me, although I’m impatient. This is more a reflection of who I am as a person than related to any sort of anxiety (at least at the moment).

Anyone who hasn’t taken either yet and needs to take both - I highly recommend this strategy. Take step first; only look at OMM between. I have incredible peace of mind and am blissfully, completely unaware of any questions I may have gotten wrong. I’m sure there were many, but at least I’m not aware of them.
 
I’m thrilled. I was pissed on Friday! The wait is almost over!!!! :soexcited:



I’ve decided I accidentally did the best thing possible - took them two days apart and took step first. I literally only looked at OMM in between, so there’s no chance of me seeing stuff I know I missed on step accidentally. The wait has not been too bad for me, although I’m impatient. This is more a reflection of who I am as a person than related to any sort of anxiety (at least at the moment).

Anyone who hasn’t taken either yet and needs to take both - I highly recommend this strategy. Take step first; only look at OMM between. I have incredible peace of mind and am blissfully, completely unaware of any questions I may have gotten wrong. I’m sure there were many, but at least I’m not aware of them.
Yeah this is killing me since I still have to study for step, its in about 1.5weeks for me. I've seen 2 for sure that I got wrong. stupid sickle cell and macro glide question. Literally just want a 400 and a 200 at this point.
 
Is there an issue with doing a practice exam every three days? I really wanted to do NBME 24, 18, UWSA2, and free 120, but my exam is next thursday. I was going to take 24 tmr then take 18 on thursday, then take UWSA2 on sunday, and Free 120 on Tuesday. Thoughts?
 
Is there an issue with doing a practice exam every three days? I really wanted to do NBME 24, 18, UWSA2, and free 120, but my exam is next thursday. I was going to take 24 tmr then take 18 on thursday, then take UWSA2 on sunday, and Free 120 on Tuesday. Thoughts?
Do whatever is comfortable for you. I did one every 6. I thought the practice exams were thr highest yield on mine
 
Is there an issue with doing a practice exam every three days? I really wanted to do NBME 24, 18, UWSA2, and free 120, but my exam is next thursday. I was going to take 24 tmr then take 18 on thursday, then take UWSA2 on sunday, and Free 120 on Tuesday. Thoughts?
No issue as long as you have time to review them.
 
Is there an issue with doing a practice exam every three days? I really wanted to do NBME 24, 18, UWSA2, and free 120, but my exam is next thursday. I was going to take 24 tmr then take 18 on thursday, then take UWSA2 on sunday, and Free 120 on Tuesday. Thoughts?
That's the order I'm taking them also
 
I feel the same score anxiety again since Level 1 D-day is sometime between Thursday and Monday. I think I might be more anxious for this one than Step.
I felt way more stressed for comlex. I'm sure my step stress will come back soon, but Comlex felt scary because I spent so much more time on "step associated" prep material
 
Comlex tomorrow...scared like crazy about passing lol Anyone else feel that way prior even if they did decently on comsae? Idk what got into my head this weekend but I'm scared I'm gonna get a form that just emphasizes all my weaknesses
 
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