USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm someone who just likes to see the big picture as it helps me connect the dots from the Zanki factoids that sometimes seem isolated. I guess it's a good plan to just target my weaknesses instead of watching all of those videos.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm someone who just likes to see the big picture as it helps me connect the dots from the Zanki factoids that sometimes seem isolated. I guess it's a good plan to just target my weaknesses instead of watching all of those videos.
Uworld will highlight Bif picture weakness because they normally test multiorgan problems. Use that to guide u. It also tells you what subjects you are weaker in. This stage in the game its all about efficiency
 
Any thoughts on Zanki, specifically the BG expansion, inflating Uworld scores? I'd love to believe the projections from my score ranges but I don't think they're reflective. Might work an extra NBME or two in my schedule to get a better projection
 
I feel burnt to a crisp today. Still have 1500 cards to do plus to review a UWORLD block. Will slow down and listen to my body. Prob just do my anki reviews. Do only 1 block of Uworld tomorrow and then review my extra block from today tomorrow.
 
So my school sent me my rotation schedule, and I got surgery as my first rotation (man I'm gonna look like a d*mbass lol, with no prior medicine rotation and anatomy not being my strongest subject lol). They basically automatically knocked me out of the running for gen surg. Lol good thing I wasn't interested in gen surg. I hope I don't fall in love with it later on. My 2 IM blocks are my last for 3rd year, and that's what I wanna do, and it's well placed for me to get honors in (hopefully!) since I'll be more experienced by then. Alright, back to studying now, this is finals' week for me, and then I'll be fully into dedicated. Good luck guys! We got this!
 
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Any thoughts on Zanki, specifically the BG expansion, inflating Uworld scores? I'd love to believe the projections from my score ranges but I don't think they're reflective. Might work an extra NBME or two in my schedule to get a better projection
I have conflicting thoughts about this. On the one hand it may inflate your UWorld % some, but on the other hand, if you know the knowledge one way or the other, does it make a difference?
 
Anyone else in Ease hell?? My zanki deck default is like 1500 cards errday even when I stop doing news.

Yea mine is starting to get up there as well. I know some people who literally just press space bar for everything which helps lower their daily reviews but it's up to them if they really know it or not. I know I can't do that and I'm pretty liberal with my 1 and 2 buttons so my ease has allowed for the high number of reviews. I don't know if y'all have been doing the same thing, but if there's a card with an interval that's after my exam date that I feel comfortable with but would still like to see before the exam, I've just been pressing "1" to continue seeing it these next 2 months. Definitely has increased my daily reviews
 
Yea mine is starting to get up there as well. I know some people who literally just press space bar for everything which helps lower their daily reviews but it's up to them if they really know it or not. I know I can't do that and I'm pretty liberal with my 1 and 2 buttons so my ease has allowed for the high number of reviews. I don't know if y'all have been doing the same thing, but if there's a card with an interval that's after my exam date that I feel comfortable with but would still like to see before the exam, I've just been pressing "1" to continue seeing it these next 2 months. Definitely has increased my daily reviews
Yeah I have been doing the same. I have default anki settings/intervals which might be hurting me more than it should. But ima keep chugging along. Covid has given me an opportunity I cant pass up. Need to use this time to get this studying done right.
 
Any idea what should be done?? Im leaning towards sucking it up because Im scared to mess with any settings so late in the game.
That's my plan. Suck it up and drive on for another 2 or so months. Victory awaits us at the end as long as we can hold out my friend.

Legit though, finally got my 10 day average on the cusp of 70% and anki is the reason.
 
How are you all planning on integrating resource review? I want to go through Pathoma and Sketchy micro+pharm for a second time, and also do some B&B for my weaker topics (mostly anatomy/phys), but I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate that into my schedule along with UWorld.
Im struggling with the same thing lol im doing 80 questions per day timed random of UW and I dont know where to fit in content review on weak topics. It takes me 9-10 hrs to get through 80 UW plus review then I do like 1 hr of sketchy micro with pepper deck and go to bed.
 
Im struggling with the same thing lol im doing 80 questions per day timed random of UW and I dont know where to fit in content review on weak topics. It takes me 9-10 hrs to get through 80 UW plus review then I do like 1 hr of sketchy micro with pepper deck and go to bed.

Wow that's dedication! I'm not planning on doing 80 a day until dedicated since I'm still finishing content review as well and that along with ~1000 Zanki reviews takes me forever. I've been doing about 20-25 per day and am about 22% through as of right now. Should be done with a first pass about 2 weeks out from test day and will then just redo incorrects and the ones I flagged. Are you planning on doing a second pass?
 
Wow that's dedication! I'm not planning on doing 80 a day until dedicated since I'm still finishing content review as well and that along with ~1000 Zanki reviews takes me forever. I've been doing about 20-25 per day and am about 22% through as of right now. Should be done with a first pass about 2 weeks out from test day and will then just redo incorrects and the ones I flagged. Are you planning on doing a second pass?
Yeah im about 1/3 done with my first pass and my exams mid June so ill be done with my first pass in about 3.5 more weeks then gonna do my incorrects, half of Kaplan and end with UWSA1 and 2, free 120 and NBME 18. Looks like im gonna take a few days after my first pass of UW and do content on my weaknesses (derm, biostats, gen pharm). My brain freezes when i get a question with graphs and numbers lol. Seems like u are set up perfectly ending UW closer to test day is key!
 
Are you guys memorizing all the formulas for respiratory, cardio, etc in Zanki? They’re really not sticking for me.
I try and its a hit or miss most days. Think I will have a sheet of stuff like this that I review day before the exam. And this point big picture and buzzwords are my focus.
 
Are you guys memorizing all the formulas for respiratory, cardio, etc in Zanki? They’re really not sticking for me.
I still have the cards in my decks but don't pay too much attention to them. Some of them I know, some of them I don't. I typically don't try to relearn them....they haven't come up in any question I've done so far.
 
Are you guys memorizing all the formulas for respiratory, cardio, etc in Zanki? They’re really not sticking for me.
Im gonna just do questions and the ones that are important youll start to use over and over and effortlessly learn them then for the ones that dont stick memorize closer to the exam. I dont think theres a point in trying to memorize the ones that arent sticking rn we’ll just forget them by test day anyway. Im in the same boat formulas are not sticking for me but just trust the process. The lower yield ones we’ll end up memorizing 1-2 weeks out
 
Anyone has any experience with addons or using filtered decks to do their hardest anki reviews first? Realize by the end of a long anki sesh I will forget stuff I would get right if not for fatigue but too scared to hit easy or hard and just hit again.
 
Prometric update: "Early after the situation was officially characterized as a pandemic, we made the difficult but necessary decision to close all Prometric test centers in the U.S. and Canada until April 16th. Based on updated information and after careful consideration, we have decided to extend the closure of test centers in the U.S. and Canada until May 1st."

I can't believe they waited until 6 days before to announce they would stay closed.....this sucks for anyone who was still studying hard planning on an April date being available, considering their previous statements up until this one made it seem like they were definitely planning on opening the 16th.
 
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I've turned off leech settings on my zanki so I see them until I learn them. Hence why im drowning.

I finished all my cards yesterday and wondered why I felt miserable. I spent several hours and did 2000+ cards. That’s why I was miserable. The amount of cards is getting overwhelming, I’m going to keep it up but man does this suck.
 
I finished all my cards yesterday and wondered why I felt miserable. I spent several hours and did 2000+ cards. That’s why I was miserable. The amount of cards is getting overwhelming, I’m going to keep it up but man does this suck.
Dam hope you taking breaks and be good to yourself. You got time to hold off on questions until anki start acting right
 
Took NBME 15 today, first one. Ended up with a 230. I took the AMBOSS self-assessment almost two months ago and got a 227 on that. Any reliability to either of these scores for people? That would suck if I've already plateaued. Dedicated in three weeks.

Edit: reading last year's posts it seems like the AMBOSS SA overpredicts and older NBMEs no longer have predictive value. So tough to say but taking one was good practice
 
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Took NBME 15 today, first one. Ended up with a 230. I took the AMBOSS self-assessment almost two months ago and got a 227 on that. Any reliability to either of these scores for people? That would suck if I've already plateaued. Dedicated in three weeks.
227 before dedicated? damn bro lol thats fire. How long is ur dedicated?
 
Thanks, I got a 57% UWorld block which kicked my ass yesterday lol. Dedicated is six weeks which I hear is average. What about your school?
Yeah 6 weeks is avg id say! We get 8 i think Last day of clas is April 15 and my test is June 15. Bro same thing with me on UW. Ill wreck blocks some days and other days ill pop a 55 or 60%er. That feeling when you click submit at the end lmao
 
Took NBME 15 today, first one. Ended up with a 230. I took the AMBOSS self-assessment almost two months ago and got a 227 on that. Any reliability to either of these scores for people? That would suck if I've already plateaued. Dedicated in three weeks.

Edit: reading last year's posts it seems like the AMBOSS SA overpredicts and older NBMEs no longer have predictive value. So tough to say but taking one was good practice
Older NBMEs no longer have predictive value? Crap I was gonna take NBME 13 in a few weeks. Why did they think that? All I know is that the new NBMEs are death. 20 is a ****show and 21 was hard did that one a few weeks ago. I guess Ill take 23 after UW in a few weeks
 
Yeah saw that while doing my research. Not sure if it will mess with anything. Any experience using it?

No experience using it. You could always try it and then revert to a backup sync if necessary.

Yeah 6 weeks is avg id say! We get 8 i think Last day of clas is April 15 and my test is June 15. Bro same thing with me on UW. Ill wreck blocks some days and other days ill pop a 55 or 60%er. That feeling when you click submit at the end lmao

For real lol I feel like I'm riding an emotional rollercoaster each time I submit, but I can't leave this ride for the next two months.

Older NBMEs no longer have predictive value? Crap I was gonna take NBME 13 in a few weeks. Why did they think that? All I know is that the new NBMEs are death. 20 is a ****show and 21 was hard did that one a few weeks ago. I guess Ill take 23 after UW in a few weeks

Maybe my wording was too absolute. The scores might still have some predictive value, but it seems like the actual test is more similar to the newer NBMEs which I hear are more difficult. Not sure how the curve is adjusted to compensate but worth keeping in mind I think.
 
No experience using it. You could always try it and then revert to a backup sync if necessary.



For real lol I feel like I'm riding an emotional rollercoaster each time I submit, but I can't leave this ride for the next two months.



Maybe my wording was too absolute. The scores might still have some predictive value, but it seems like the actual test is more similar to the newer NBMEs which I hear are more difficult. Not sure how the curve is adjusted to compensate but worth keeping in mind I think.
I guess it depends on who you talk to but I heard the real deal is basically UW with some new NBMEs sprinkled in but not a lot. Almost everyone Ive talked to said it was “fair” and that there arent too many WTF questions like the new NBMEs
 
Ufff, just got rocked. NBME 13 score was raw 390, 205 according to them. I put into the reddit 2019 score predictor and it's predicting me at 239 based on my UWorld scores and 13. I'm surprised I did so poorly as I felt a lot of the questions were pretty dead-on. I wonder if this form just underpredicts a ton?
 
Ufff, just got rocked. NBME 13 score was raw 390, 205 according to them. I put into the reddit 2019 score predictor and it's predicting me at 239 based on my UWorld scores and 13. I'm surprised I did so poorly as I felt a lot of the questions were pretty dead-on. I wonder if this form just underpredicts a ton?
I wouldnt worry about it. All NBMEs underpredict some more than others but theres no way if you took it now youd get a 205. I feel like you would get higher than that for sure. Regardless anything above 200 on an NBME this far out is good
 
Ufff, just got rocked. NBME 13 score was raw 390, 205 according to them. I put into the reddit 2019 score predictor and it's predicting me at 239 based on my UWorld scores and 13. I'm surprised I did so poorly as I felt a lot of the questions were pretty dead-on. I wonder if this form just underpredicts a ton?


Looks like you're pretty solid based on this.
 
I guess it depends on who you talk to but I heard the real deal is basically UW with some new NBMEs sprinkled in but not a lot. Almost everyone Ive talked to said it was “fair” and that there arent too many WTF questions like the new NBMEs

Gotcha, I haven't taken any other NBMEs yet so that's good to know.
 
Less than 500 questions left in Rx and predictor has me at 250.....I know their predictor is trash but I'll take 20 points less than that haha

Same but for Kaplan! I'm trying my best not to look at these predictors though as I found it can make me somewhat complacent. But right now my biggest wish is just to be able to take our exam right on time on our originally scheduled date.
 
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