USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Mr.IceHockey said:
Yes, I posted my experience(s) with that in this thread here. They are trash.

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Which COMSAE should I do first/last?

Which COMSAE should I do? I understand the COMSAEs are garbage, but I still want to have as much exposure to a COMLEX as I can. As of now, these are the best resources to get actual questions from the NBOME, so I want to make the most of them. My school is making us take "COMSAE 103b" and I...
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NecrotizingFasciitis said:
I think mine under-predicated my real score by ~200 points. My school made us take a COMSAE & a COMBANK exam back to back in the same day & there was a almost >250 point difference between the scores (LOL.)

This was last year though. Idk what form it was or anything; I don't remember.
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Lol yeah we took 105 and I had a 175 point difference between the COMBANK administered test our school gave us and this COMSAE we just took. We had to get a 450 to pass it and i think maybe 10% of our class will get that
 
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Cranjis McBasketball said:
Lol yeah we took 105 and I had a 175 point difference between the COMBANK administered test our school gave us and this COMSAE we just took. We had to get a 450 to pass it and i think maybe 10% of our class will get that
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Yeah they are awful. And the grade scale/curve is so wild also. For example my score on 101b was about 40/50 points higher than 103b, but the areas I "needed to improve" (or whatever, the red column to the left of the blue column on the score report) were so different between the two exams, and my 103 form had nearly double the amount of micro on it compared to 101. And there were questions that repeated on both forms, but I don't even know if I got them right, so I cant even say if that was why my score was better/worse.
 
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Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
How far would everyone be willing to go if it meant taking your exam at the appropriate time
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I would cross an ocean. But, if they make COMLEX pass/fail starting in the fall or something, I am not going to take it in June because I see no point in applying with a potentially low score and competing with someone who just has a "P".
 
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Mr.IceHockey said:
lol I will be so butthurt if I take COMLEX in June and they make it P/F in July.
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I think it'd likely be similar to the USMLE in that it's announced in July but doesn't go into effect for a couple more years. And with the merger, COMLEX is essentially already P/F unless you're targeting a competitive specialty at former AOA programs.
 
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Question, sorry if this has been answered, but if I was able to get an appt for next week from the prometric website, in a state that is opening up, is that for real or is there any chance I get axed again for social distancing? I just found one this afternoon
 
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Just got a confirmation email for COMLEX in June (which was never canceled in the first place) yet still nothing about when the heck my Step exam is. My NBME account updated to reflect my new July date so I'm going to roll with that for now.
 
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If you got an email this morning asking you to confirm a previously canceled date, have you gotten another one this afternoon asking you to confirm your rescheduled date?
 
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MakeLifeHappen13 said:
Yes, it seems like they finally pulled their heads out of their asses.
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I haven’t gotten anything about my rescheduled date, just the incorrect one this morning about USMLE and the correct one about COMLEX this afternoon. Maybe because my rescheduled date is in July? I’m just a little confused about when Prometric thinks I’m taking Step lol.
 
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Cranjis McBasketball said:
Lol yeah we took 105 and I had a 175 point difference between the COMBANK administered test our school gave us and this COMSAE we just took. We had to get a 450 to pass it and i think maybe 10% of our class will get that
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Same.. We took required 105b this week (month out from original COMLEX date, which is now cancelled...) and I scored over 30 points lower than the 104 I bought to test myself a week before... curious to see what the school says about adjusting the minimum. I highly doubt many of our class will break a 450 either, plus at least half won't even be sitting for COMLEX now until August after our May dates got cut.

The COMSAE's are awful and have a lot of variance- I thought 104 was pretty easy, then 105 snapped me back into place with all it's random cranial questions, ethical questions, and oh that Latin??
 
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Idk how but I was originally scheduled for May 14 and I was able to reschedule on prometric website to 5 days later on May 19th, at a testing center in my state. Is this too good to be true? Should I expect this to be cancelled as well?
 
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Ruraldoc18 said:
Same.. We took required 105b this week (month out from original COMLEX date, which is now cancelled...) and I scored over 30 points lower than the 104 I bought to test myself a week before... curious to see what the school says about adjusting the minimum. I highly doubt many of our class will break a 450 either, plus at least half won't even be sitting for COMLEX now until August after our May dates got cut.

The COMSAE's are awful and have a lot of variance- I thought 104 was pretty easy, then 105 snapped me back into place with all it's random cranial questions, ethical questions, and oh that Latin??
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Im definitely worried about the Cranial. I’ve yet to study that at all and have my Comsae in a month or so
 
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Ruraldoc18 said:
Same.. We took required 105b this week (month out from original COMLEX date, which is now cancelled...) and I scored over 30 points lower than the 104 I bought to test myself a week before... curious to see what the school says about adjusting the minimum. I highly doubt many of our class will break a 450 either, plus at least half won't even be sitting for COMLEX now until August after our May dates got cut.

The COMSAE's are awful and have a lot of variance- I thought 104 was pretty easy, then 105 snapped me back into place with all it's random cranial questions, ethical questions, and oh that Latin??
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Yeah we took 105 in December to "give us an idea of what to expect" and it was just so dumb. Class average was like a 330 or something stupid.
 
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Mr.IceHockey said:
Yeah we took 105 in December to "give us an idea of what to expect" and it was just so dumb. Class average was like a 330 or something stupid.
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Ruraldoc18 said:
Same.. We took required 105b this week (month out from original COMLEX date, which is now cancelled...) and I scored over 30 points lower than the 104 I bought to test myself a week before... curious to see what the school says about adjusting the minimum. I highly doubt many of our class will break a 450 either, plus at least half won't even be sitting for COMLEX now until August after our May dates got cut.

The COMSAE's are awful and have a lot of variance- I thought 104 was pretty easy, then 105 snapped me back into place with all it's random cranial questions, ethical questions, and oh that Latin??
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Half the exam was either cranial stuff, insurance stuff, or just random "here's a photo, what is it?" type questions. I especially loved the one about your drug addict anesthesiologist colleague
 
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Cranjis McBasketball said:
Half the exam was either cranial stuff, insurance stuff, or just random "here's a photo, what is it?" type questions. I especially loved the one about your drug addict anesthesiologist colleague
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Yep. Classic NBOME.
"They can't match surgery if they dont do well, so lets make sure we get those primary care numbers up by asking rediculous questions"
 
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How much OMM does one have to “know” to pass a school COMSAE? I don’t know like any OMM cause I always cram the night before OMM tests and then forget it.

Don’t really wanna full on study OMM now that my COMLEX is in August but our school is still having our COMSAE at end of May. Any suggestions?
 
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Scrubb said:
How much OMM does one have to “know” to pass a school COMSAE? I don’t know like any OMM cause I always cram the night before OMM tests and then forget it.

Don’t really wanna full on study OMM now that my COMLEX is in August but our school is still having our COMSAE at end of May. Any suggestions?
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You're going to want to know it, especially viscerosomatics. Do COMQUEST OMM questions or something.
 
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Scrubb said:
How much OMM does one have to “know” to pass a school COMSAE? I don’t know like any OMM cause I always cram the night before OMM tests and then forget it.

Don’t really wanna full on study OMM now that my COMLEX is in August but our school is still having our COMSAE at end of May. Any suggestions?
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I mean... its hard to say honestly. I dont remember COMSAE 105 much at all.
But, 103 and 101 had a pretty good amount. I am pretty sure COMSAE 101 asked me which cranial dysfunction creates a "parallelogram head" (yes that is the phrasing they used). And I also struggle with OMM, but I think if you know your chapmans points and viscerosomatics that will get you easy points, because there was at least one of those on each form. Cranial is the trickiest for me, and there was some on 101 and 103 I think. But honestly its really hard to say. I would just try to go through Savareese (green book) as best you can and try to go through the OMM anki decks that mimic the Savareese book.
 
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Mr.IceHockey said:
I mean... its hard to say honestly. I dont remember COMSAE 105 much at all.
But, 103 and 101 had a pretty good amount. I am pretty sure COMSAE 101 asked me which cranial dysfunction creates a "parallelogram head" (yes that is the phrasing they used). And I also struggle with OMM, but I think if you know your chapmans points and viscerosomatics that will get you easy points, because there was at least one of those on each form. Cranial is the trickiest for me, and there was some on 101 and 103 I think. But honestly its really hard to say. I would just try to go through Savareese (green book) as best you can and try to go through the OMM anki decks that mimic the Savareese book.
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Oh and absolutely do the OMM section on COMQUEST, its better than Truelearn/combank.
That said, there is so few practice OMM questions out there that doing the Truelearn/combank is also a good call, but it isnt as good as COMQUEST.
 
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So my friend who goes to an MD school just told me that she was told by her dean (who has been in touch with the NBME and has been advocating for schools to administer boards) that she fully expects cancellations to roll into July and possibly August as well. Yet the NBME/NBOME still have no plans at this time to allow schools to proctor the exams...
 
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Hit 80% on a block. Lets goooooo.

Mr.IceHockey said:
asked me which cranial dysfunction creates a "parallelogram head"
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lateral strain 😉 damn I guess it's true that our school's OMM exams are super hard compared to boards cause that is something we definitely had multiple questions on in the past lol
 
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Cranjis McBasketball said:
Half the exam was either cranial stuff, insurance stuff, or just random "here's a photo, what is it?" type questions. I especially loved the one about your drug addict anesthesiologist colleague
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Haha, got that same question on 3 different versions and still not sure I put the right thing!
 
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ThatDoctorDude said:
I’m curious to see how many people will be pissed that they didn’t do as well as they wanted because they had to take their exam during a rotation lol
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This depends on how you studied. If people haven't done anything and were counting on dedicated to do all of their studying, it sucks. For people on here who have been grinding Anki for 1-2 years, I don't think their end score will be that different tbh.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
This depends on how you studied. If people haven't done anything and were counting on dedicated to do all of their studying, it sucks. For people on here who have been grinding Anki for 1-2 years, I don't think their end score will be that different tbh.
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I suppose you’re right. People who were gonna do well will definitely still do well but I feel that it could be the difference between a 240 and maybe a 245 or 250
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
This depends on how you studied. If people haven't done anything and were counting on dedicated to do all of their studying, it sucks. For people on here who have been grinding Anki for 1-2 years, I don't think their end score will be that different tbh.
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I've thought this as well and it gives me solace no matter how many times I get bounced around lol. Anki will definitely make it easier to keep up with things between exams as well.
 
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Finally took another practice test...NBME 20 rocked me man. 215, 15 point drop from NBME 15. If I ever needed a fire lit under my ass...
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
This depends on how you studied. If people haven't done anything and were counting on dedicated to do all of their studying, it sucks. For people on here who have been grinding Anki for 1-2 years, I don't think their end score will be that different tbh.
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I'd still be pretty pissed though, just needing to keep up with studying in the middle of rotations, especially a busy one like IM or surgery. I've done zanki since the start of med school and couldn't see myself dropping it in the middle of rotations. Maybe put a cap on reviews at that point I dunno. Let's say I do an hour of zanki, do I also do a block of UW/Amboss/Kaplan to stay fresh? That'd be an hour for the block and another hour to review, so that's 3 extra hours in the middle of rotations. Despite getting confirmation emails, I'm still not 100% convinced I will take it on those dates and this is something I'm still pretty worried about.
 
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iforget2 said:
I'd still be pretty pissed though, just needing to keep up with studying in the middle of rotations, especially a busy one like IM or surgery. I've done zanki since the start of med school and couldn't see myself dropping it in the middle of rotations. Maybe put a cap on reviews at that point I dunno. Let's say I do an hour of zanki, do I also do a block of UW/Amboss/Kaplan to stay fresh? That'd be an hour for the block and another hour to review, so that's 3 extra hours in the middle of rotations. Despite getting confirmation emails, I'm still not 100% convinced I will take it on those dates and this is something I'm still pretty worried about.
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Exactly!! You’ve worked incredibly hard and don’t deserve anything lower than what you worked for. This is especially since depending on what you wanna go into, programs will still look at you sideways no matter what the circumstances were if your score isn’t up to par. Like this is infuriating
 
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iforget2 said:
I'd still be pretty pissed though, just needing to keep up with studying in the middle of rotations, especially a busy one like IM or surgery. I've done zanki since the start of med school and couldn't see myself dropping it in the middle of rotations. Maybe put a cap on reviews at that point I dunno. Let's say I do an hour of zanki, do I also do a block of UW/Amboss/Kaplan to stay fresh? That'd be an hour for the block and another hour to review, so that's 3 extra hours in the middle of rotations. Despite getting confirmation emails, I'm still not 100% convinced I will take it on those dates and this is something I'm still pretty worried about.
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Oh I fully agree. It would absolutely suck.

Edit: I still don't know what'll happen with my COMLEX because that's scheduled for July, so if it gets cancelled even if I sit for Step I'm going to have to keep doing Anki so I agree, it sucks.
 
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ThatDoctorDude said:
Exactly!! You’ve worked incredibly hard and don’t deserve anything lower than what you worked for. This is especially since depending on what you wanna go into, programs will still look at you sideways no matter what the circumstances were if your score isn’t up to par. Like this is infuriating
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I am going against all rational thought and just praying that USMLE has a Come-To-Jesus moment and allows schools to begin proctoring exams in July. That way we don't have to experience a second wave of cancellations, MD students can take exams at their schools and DO students can either take all the open Prometric spots or possibly take it at a local MD school.
 
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GoCards05 said:
I am going against all rational thought and just praying that USMLE has a Come-To-Jesus moment and allows schools to begin proctoring exams in July. That way we don't have to experience a second wave of cancellations, MD students can take exams at their schools and DO students can either take all the open Prometric spots or possibly take it at a local MD school.
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Or prometric could just rent out a larger venue and use it so that more people could take the exam at once. I’m sure schools would allow them to use their space to administer the test. Thats partly why i feel like it’s primarily about money. Prometric could easily do that or better yet open up more dates if they wanted but i don’t think they want to pay people overtime so they can stay open. They could maybe even open up at like 6 and close at 11 so they can give 2 sets of exams a day to get everybody in. Really seems like the goal for prometric is to capitalize as much as possible off of us cause if the goal was to get everyone to take the exam it’d most likely get Done.
 
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ThatDoctorDude said:
Or prometric could just rent out a larger venue and use it so that more people could take the exam at once. I’m sure schools would allow them to use their space to administer the test. Thats partly why i feel like it’s primarily about money. Prometric could easily do that or better yet open up more dates if they wanted but i don’t think they want to pay people overtime so they can stay open. They could maybe even open up at like 6 and close at 11 so they can give 2 sets of exams a day to get everybody in. Really seems like the goal for prometric is to capitalize as much as possible off of us cause if the goal was to get everyone to take the exam it’d most likely get Done.
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I have literally questioned why they can't just open earlier and close later for the next couple months in order to do two-a-day testing. Have the first wave from 6a-2p, an hour break to sanitize the work stations then another wave from 3p-11p (or 12a if you're taking COMLEX). This isn't permanent, just for the summer months so you can get everyone caught up. Instead of doing a mass 50% cancellation, they could've split each testing group per day in half and do one morning session and one evening session. Problem solved.
 
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GoCards05 said:
I have literally questioned why they can't just open earlier and close later for the next couple months in order to do two-a-day testing. Have the first wave from 6a-2p, an hour break to sanitize the work stations then another wave from 3p-11p (or 12a if you're taking COMLEX). This isn't permanent, just for the summer months so you can get everyone caught up. Instead of doing a mass 50% cancellation, they could've split each testing group per day in half and do one morning session and one evening session. Problem solved.
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or be open more days. Im pretty sure before all this they weren't offering step on all 7 days
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
or be open more days. Im pretty sure before all this they weren't offering step on all 7 days
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They keep saying they're going to open more dates so why haven't they done so? As far as I know there aren't any exams on Sundays right now. They really need to prioritize the medical students above everyone else because another wave of cancellations and people might not be graduating on time.
 
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Unrelated question. But what's with the deal of the percentile on Uworld? I've gone through about 20% of the questions on random timed, and it has me at~86 percentile (80% right overall). Is that just some goofy number they give us, so they can put it on a pretty graph?
 
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Thesimplelifeofamyloid said:
Unrelated question. But what's with the deal of the percentile on Uworld? I've gone through about 20% of the questions on random timed, and it has me at~86 percentile (80% right overall). Is that just some goofy number they give us, so they can put it on a pretty graph?
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no? I mean it’s simply just telling you how you’re doing compared to other people using UW. Nothing goofy or pretty about it. And good job btw!!
 
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