USMLE Official 2020 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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Quavo said:
I took UWSA 2 today and I got 232. Got around the same on UWSA 1 a few weeks ago. My nbmes have been all over the place, usually lying between 210-230. My goal score is 230+ but I’ll be ok if I get 220s. I have 2 weeks until my exam. I’m planning on taking nbme 24 and 18 as well. Other than doing these exams what should I be doing over the next 2 weeks? Going through things I have trouble with in first aid? More questions? Both?

I sorta wish I could take it already because I’ve been waiting to take it since last month. New spots opened up for early May so should I just take it and get it over with?
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TBH I'd be pretty happy with 232 on UWSA2. As far as I can tell it has a strong association. You've gone and beat 50%+ of the test takers. Also, seems like UWSA1 usually overpredicts, so good job on hitting the score on UWSA2 as well.

Have you done free 120? Also a valuable exam. If I were you I'd either replace 18 or 24 or add it in. I know 18 has been held up as a solid representation in the past, but 24 is the newest. Not sure if there's any solid guidance on that.

Regardless, good luck!!
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
is there a way to save the pictures in UWorld & throw them on Anki cards? every time I screen shot the thing freaks out
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Open up UW in a browser like chrome. You can screen shot without it freaking out. Also if you want to copy and paste you can put whatever you want to a notecard then copy and paste from the notecard from UW
 
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Called my local Prometric and was told they aren’t able to see rosters more than 2 weeks out. My NBME account lists June 12 as my test date as does the Prometric confirmation link so I’m going to proceed as if I’m testing that day unless/until I’m told otherwise. Let the dedicated fun begin.
 
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GoCards05 said:
Called my local Prometric and was told they aren’t able to see rosters more than 2 weeks out. My NBME account lists June 12 as my test date as does the Prometric confirmation link so I’m going to proceed as if I’m testing that day unless/until I’m told otherwise. Let the dedicated fun begin.
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how did you get through? When I call mine it goes immediately to a recording saying to visit the website then hangs up
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Lets us know how it felt! and also if it seemed predictive we all know how those 20+ NBMEs go lol
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Just finished up. Scored a 241!!! I got 166/200 (83%) correct. Super happy with that score considering I woke up at 7:50am and started at 8:00am and had my dog barking for amost all of section 2!

It definitely involved more thinking than the older forms but there were still some straight factoid questions. I also felt like it repeated a few concepts so if you knew them you had a couple gimmes but if you didn’t than you would pretty much lose those points. Overall, it felt more like the question banks than the older forms. I thought it felt like a mix of Uworld and Amboss.
 
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CyrusHabs7695 said:
how did you get through? When I call mine it goes immediately to a recording saying to visit the website then hangs up
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I just called the number listed for the site on my confirmation email and since they’ve resumed testing, an actual human answered. I didn’t call the national number since it’s impossible to get through but if you look up your local testing center, they might be in and able to give some info.
 
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sooooo I went over my Uworld performance data. Basically I've had zero imporvment. I started at 64% correct, and have been stuck since a month in at 66%. Starting to get very frustrated lol. I thought things were getting better but now after seeing that I've apparently made zero progress, I am very discouraged. I'm 53% through with Uworld right now
 
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Back in the game. After all this, looks like I'm testing in my original center on original date. What a circus

managed this my first block after a week off:
2020-05-04_113850.png


Anesthesia questions rock me. Gas goes in, sleep comes out, cant explain that
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
I’m thinking of limiting my Anki reviews since they take up so much of my day and are absolutely soul draining after hitting ~1500. Thoughts?
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Ill say this because I think there are a lot of people that don't use ANKI/ZANKI and feel that they are at a disadvantage because everyone else uses them to prepare for boards, but so many people (myself included) simply do not get a whole lot out of reading and clicking through cards day after day.
That said, I use anki, but for concepts I know I can bang into my brain, like micro and pharm. But using anki for something like path or phys or more in depth processes just will never work for me. Thats why since I have been in dedicated I use anki for 3 things only: 1) to review questions/content I get wrong in qbanks using decks I custom make myself 2) reviewing content I get right in qbanks but am not 100% sure on, but I know is high yield 3) micro/pharm because I think anki decks are perfect for that content.
 
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Type2Fiber said:
Back in the game. After all this, looks like I'm testing in my original center on original date. What a circus

managed this my first block after a week off:
View attachment 305104

Anesthesia questions rock me. Gas goes in, sleep comes out, cant explain that
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Holy shnikeys lmao dude I can't believe you missed 1 question you better go study!
 
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NotSoObvious said:
Do it. Qbanks are king
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Mr.IceHockey said:
Ill say this because I think there are a lot of people that don't use ANKI/ZANKI and feel that they are at a disadvantage because everyone else uses them to prepare for boards, but so many people (myself included) simply do not get a whole lot out of reading and clicking through cards day after day.
That said, I use anki, but for concepts I know I can bang into my brain, like micro and pharm. But using anki for something like path or phys or more in depth processes just will never work for me. Thats why since I have been in dedicated I use anki for 3 things only: 1) to review questions/content I get wrong in qbanks using decks I custom make myself 2) reviewing content I get right in qbanks but am not 100% sure on, but I know is high yield 3) micro/pharm because I think anki decks are perfect for that content.
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Sounds like I have my answers. I may just limit my main Zanki deck reviews to 500 or so a day and keep everything from Micro and Pharm as well as my UWorld deck. Should end up putting me at ~1000 cards a day. I get a lot of little details and good learning from zanki, but I know I will definitely burn out if 2000 a day remains my normal while also doing 4 hours of DIT and 2 hours of practice questions +review along with sketchy.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
Sounds like I have my answers. I may just limit my main Zanki deck reviews to 500 or so a day and keep everything from Micro and Pharm as well as my UWorld deck. Should end up putting me at ~1000 cards a day. I get a lot of little details and good learning from zanki, but I know I will definitely burn out if 2000 a day remains my normal while also doing 4 hours of DIT and 2 hours of practice questions +review along with sketchy.
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Yeah I mean obviously do what works for you, but for me, I just reach a point where after a few hundred cards I can feel myself just mindlessly skimming the card and clicking and not getting what I really need to out of it, so I know its not the best use of my time. I have to be like really active in order to really feel like I am making progress and sometimes Anki doesn't "scratch that itch", but some days its better than others. Idk, I am not the biggest anki advocate on here, thats for sure, but I am certainly not against it either because I know its certainly useful.
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
Sounds like I have my answers. I may just limit my main Zanki deck reviews to 500 or so a day and keep everything from Micro and Pharm as well as my UWorld deck. Should end up putting me at ~1000 cards a day. I get a lot of little details and good learning from zanki, but I know I will definitely burn out if 2000 a day remains my normal while also doing 4 hours of DIT and 2 hours of practice questions +review along with sketchy.
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to do the same. I'm prioritizing finishing content review and doing practice questions now and will do Zanki for review at the end of each day and keep my reviews capped at around 1000.
 
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Type2Fiber said:
Back in the game. After all this, looks like I'm testing in my original center on original date. What a circus

managed this my first block after a week off:
View attachment 305104

Anesthesia questions rock me. Gas goes in, sleep comes out, cant explain that
Click to expand...

cant believe you got that 1 question wrong, dumba**
 
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Deecee2DO said:
why i hate kaplan sometimes
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Is Kaplan your secondary bank to UWorld? I used Kaplan a lot first semester this year but not as much since I started UWorld second semester. Kaplan’s explanations are just so long and convoluted compared to UWorld’s clear cut and to the point explanations.
 
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GoCards05 said:
Is Kaplan your secondary bank to UWorld? I used Kaplan a lot first semester this year but not as much since I started UWorld second semester. Kaplan’s explanations are just so long and convoluted compared to UWorld’s clear cut and to the point explanations.
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So i did Rx and then half of UW and now doing half of Kaplan until 6 weeks out then gonna finish UW and do incorrects. Honestly nothing compares to UW but general consensus is its second best bank. Amboss is too hard imo and teaches overthinking
 
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Deecee2DO said:
So i did Rx and then half of UW and now doing half of Kaplan until 6 weeks out then gonna finish UW and do incorrects. Honestly nothing compares to UW but general consensus is its second best bank. Amboss is too hard imo and teaches overthinking
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Yeah I'm about 5.5 weeks out so my daily schedule right now includes UWorld, finishing Pathoma and Zanki. I figured I'll add Kaplan back in once I'm completely done with content and fully focused on practice questions. I picked Kaplan as my secondary bank because I had heard it was second best to UWorld but UWorld is just so perfect that other question banks have lost their appeal.
 
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Alright y'all, UWSA1 done: 249 (76.3%).

Block breakdown was 87%, 77%, 67%, and 72% (compared to 64%, 61%, 58%, and 65% for the test taker average). Oddly enough I felt like crap after the first block and thought the last block was going to be my highest, so shows you not to trust your feelings at all lol.

Also unsurprisingly, biochem and anatomy/embryo were my worst areas lol. Definitely seems like stamina is going to come into play for me seeing as my first 2 blocks were my highest. Feeling better about hitting my goal (230). I really like that it shows you how many you changed from correct to incorrect etc...I changed 8 from correct to incorrect, but 11 from incorrect to correct so I guess that's not terrible? Now time to go finish Anki before I review this monster tomorrow.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Alright y'all, UWSA1 done: 249 (76.3%).

Block breakdown was 87%, 77%, 67%, and 72% (compared to 64%, 61%, 58%, and 65% for the test taker average). Oddly enough I felt like crap after the first block and thought the last block was going to be my highest, so shows you not to trust your feelings at all lol.

Also unsurprisingly, biochem and anatomy/embryo were my worst areas lol. Definitely seems like stamina is going to come into play for me seeing as my first 2 blocks were my highest. Feeling better about hitting my goal (230). I really like that it shows you how many you changed from correct to incorrect etc...I changed 8 from correct to incorrect, but 11 from incorrect to correct so I guess that's not terrible? Now time to go finish Anki before I review this monster tomorrow.
Click to expand...
I think you're going to get way higher than 230 on the real-deal
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Alright y'all, UWSA1 done: 249 (76.3%).

Block breakdown was 87%, 77%, 67%, and 72% (compared to 64%, 61%, 58%, and 65% for the test taker average). Oddly enough I felt like crap after the first block and thought the last block was going to be my highest, so shows you not to trust your feelings at all lol.

Also unsurprisingly, biochem and anatomy/embryo were my worst areas lol. Definitely seems like stamina is going to come into play for me seeing as my first 2 blocks were my highest. Feeling better about hitting my goal (230). I really like that it shows you how many you changed from correct to incorrect etc...I changed 8 from correct to incorrect, but 11 from incorrect to correct so I guess that's not terrible? Now time to go finish Anki before I review this monster tomorrow.
Click to expand...
When is your Step date?
 
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GoCards05 said:
Yeah I'm about 5.5 weeks out so my daily schedule right now includes UWorld, finishing Pathoma and Zanki. I figured I'll add Kaplan back in once I'm completely done with content and fully focused on practice questions. I picked Kaplan as my secondary bank because I had heard it was second best to UWorld but UWorld is just so perfect that other question banks have lost their appeal.
Click to expand...
 

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fldoctorgirl said:
Alright y'all, UWSA1 done: 249 (76.3%).

Block breakdown was 87%, 77%, 67%, and 72% (compared to 64%, 61%, 58%, and 65% for the test taker average). Oddly enough I felt like crap after the first block and thought the last block was going to be my highest, so shows you not to trust your feelings at all lol.

Also unsurprisingly, biochem and anatomy/embryo were my worst areas lol. Definitely seems like stamina is going to come into play for me seeing as my first 2 blocks were my highest. Feeling better about hitting my goal (230). I really like that it shows you how many you changed from correct to incorrect etc...I changed 8 from correct to incorrect, but 11 from incorrect to correct so I guess that's not terrible? Now time to go finish Anki before I review this monster tomorrow.
Click to expand...
found this (not the best R value but its something)-youre already above your goal and you still have 8 weeks of dedicated. Leggoooooo
 
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Does anyone know how to set up a review deck so it’ll pull randomly from all the sub decks? I want to make sure I’m still seeing a mix of everything in the deck I’m doing even if it’s only 500 cards of review a day
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
Does anyone know how to set up a review deck so it’ll pull randomly from all the sub decks? I want to make sure I’m still seeing a mix of everything in the deck I’m doing even if it’s only 500 cards of review a day
Click to expand...

- tools
- create filtered deck
- clear the search tab and type in "is:_due" <- delete the _ in there, it formatted weird posting here
- click the selected by tab, change from oldest seen first to random
- change limit from 100 to 9999
- build
 
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Type2Fiber said:
- tools
- create filtered deck
- clear the search tab and type in "is:_due" <- delete the _ in there, it formatted weird posting here
- click the selected by tab, change from oldest seen first to random
- change limit from 100 to 9999
- build
Click to expand...

Any chance for an ELI5 as to what this exactly translates to? What does the limit portion mean?
 
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Steve_Zissou said:
Any chance for an ELI5 as to what this exactly translates to? What does the limit portion mean?
Click to expand...

sorry I was typing from my phone. open Anki, click the tools button in the top left, and then go through those steps. you'll see what I mean when you're doing it

if that is confusing or doesn't work, there should be plenty of short youtube videos on how to do it. I cant remember which one I learned it from
 
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Anyone else worried that states that have opened will re-evaluate at the end of the month and be like "aight this was a bad idea let's close everything again" and then prometric will close at the beginning of June?
 
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Deecee2DO said:
Anyone have any good suggestions for getting down the breast masses. They are literally all the same to me and ive gone over them 100x in pathoma
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Boards and Beyond did a good job hashing out the differences. Pathoma is good, but sometimes doesn't give enough information on the specific presentations. Like for example, with the hematology section, I feel like he only gives you enough to get a easy-medium multiple choice question right, and if someone asked me to talk about the presentation and the lab findings for Glanzmann thrombasthenia, I wouldn't be able to say much other than a sentence.
 
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iforget2 said:
Anyone else worried that states that have opened will re-evaluate at the end of the month and be like "aight this was a bad idea let's close everything again" and then prometric will close at the beginning of June?
Click to expand...
I have thought about this. But I think since they are operating at 50% capacity it'll likely be fine? But honestly who knows.
 
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fldoctorgirl said:
Alright y'all, UWSA1 done: 249 (76.3%).

Block breakdown was 87%, 77%, 67%, and 72% (compared to 64%, 61%, 58%, and 65% for the test taker average). Oddly enough I felt like crap after the first block and thought the last block was going to be my highest, so shows you not to trust your feelings at all lol.

Also unsurprisingly, biochem and anatomy/embryo were my worst areas lol. Definitely seems like stamina is going to come into play for me seeing as my first 2 blocks were my highest. Feeling better about hitting my goal (230). I really like that it shows you how many you changed from correct to incorrect etc...I changed 8 from correct to incorrect, but 11 from incorrect to correct so I guess that's not terrible? Now time to go finish Anki before I review this monster tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I feel like we're so similar lol. Both finished zanki, 245 on UWSA1 a few weeks ago, 75% UW average right now, DO students who aren't canceled (yet), goal score >230
 
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