So....umm....

[Batmaan21]

I started USMLE World Yesterday, after doing Kaplan Qbank for the first 2.5 weeks of studying - is there anybody beside me that does significantly better and is surprisingly less frustrated by USMLE than by Kaplan? I found Kaplan Gross Anatomy and Micro to be ... well ... absurd...anyone else come to that finding?

As for on a more personal level, I need a little ego kick here - I guess it's b/c since I started studying about 46 days before test day, I didn't have the urgency at the beginning I do now...anyway, like everyoen else Id like to do well, but I feel like I don't know stuff well enough now - anywya, I'm 25 days away from test day...Im definitely haveing productive days now relative to before....think I could maybe pull off something good? I mean 25 days left is still alot of time, right?

And one last question - if I can do 48 random q's on usmle and pull from 59% to 67%, and I'm 25 days away, I'll atleast pass, right?

I guess its just hard for me to gauge since like most of you guys I'm used to going through exams and knowing most of the ansers - its a strange feeling/phenomenon to be educatedly "guessing" on so many questions...

sorry for the very personal nature of my post - for the most part i pots on general issues - but i find you guys to be nice/helpful, so i figured i'd talk to you on my yet again uneventful summer saturday night (don't ya just love the step 1 summer!!!)

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[DwyaneWade]

I started USMLE World Yesterday, after doing Kaplan Qbank for the first 2.5 weeks of studying - is there anybody beside me that does significantly better and is surprisingly less frustrated by USMLE than by Kaplan? I found Kaplan Gross Anatomy and Micro to be ... well ... absurd...anyone else come to that finding?

As for on a more personal level, I need a little ego kick here - I guess it's b/c since I started studying about 46 days before test day, I didn't have the urgency at the beginning I do now...anyway, like everyoen else Id like to do well, but I feel like I don't know stuff well enough now - anywya, I'm 25 days away from test day...Im definitely haveing productive days now relative to before....think I could maybe pull off something good? I mean 25 days left is still alot of time, right?

And one last question - if I can do 48 random q's on usmle and pull from 59% to 67%, and I'm 25 days away, I'll atleast pass, right?

I guess its just hard for me to gauge since like most of you guys I'm used to going through exams and knowing most of the ansers - its a strange feeling/phenomenon to be educatedly "guessing" on so many questions...

sorry for the very personal nature of my post - for the most part i pots on general issues - but i find you guys to be nice/helpful, so i figured i'd talk to you on my yet again uneventful summer saturday night (don't ya just love the step 1 summer!!!)

Welcome!

What are your goals?

The correlation between UW scores and Step 1 scores have been highly debated. I will post some threads when I find them. Just now that the larger the sample pool (e.g. the more questions you take), the more accurate a prediction you can make.

Don't be satisfied with that 60s UW score, if you are already there with some hard work and effort you could be up in the 70-80 range!

 

[osli]

I also found Anatomy and Micro on Kaplan to be extremely tedious and (hopefully) very low yield. On the other hand, the pharm and biochem on UWorld can be crazy... I think the biochem is just hard but relevant, some of the pharm I have to wonder if that is anything close to high yield (most of the pharm is just tough but fair - some is "Kaplan absurd" type questions).

Most people who end up doing very well start out around 60% or so, and seem to finish in the 70's (though your cumulative is highly influenced by when in your course of study you started the qbank... some wait until they have gone through a lot and their early scores are still decent, some start the qbank very early and thus score pretty low on the early question blocks - so it is probably your average over the last few hundred questions that is most telling). People who start out in the 70's (or better!?!) and end up in the 80's are the studs that hit the crazy 260 etc. scores, though there are several members here who started in the 60's, finished in the 70's, and rocked the test.

IMO, any starting point above 50% with a month to study probably means you're in good shape. Of course, that is all relative to the score you want.

 

[DwyaneWade]

I also found Anatomy and Micro on Kaplan to be extremely tedious and (hopefully) very low yield. On the other hand, the pharm and biochem on UWorld can be crazy... I think the biochem is just hard but relevant, some of the pharm I have to wonder if that is anything close to high yield (most of the pharm is just tough but fair - some is "Kaplan absurd" type questions).

Most people who end up doing very well start out around 60% or so, and seem to finish in the 70's (though your cumulative is highly influenced by when in your course of study you started the qbank... some wait until they have gone through a lot and their early scores are still decent, some start the qbank very early and thus score pretty low on the early question blocks - so it is probably your average over the last few hundred questions that is most telling). People who start out in the 70's (or better!?!) and end up in the 80's are the studs that hit the crazy 260 etc. scores, though there are several members here who started in the 60's, finished in the 70's, and rocked the test.

IMO, any starting point above 50% with a month to study probably means you're in good shape. Of course, that is all relative to the score you want.

Beat you

 

[osli]

Must have been by just a few seconds...

 

[Batmaan21]

Thanks guys - I appreciate the responses - and one good thing I'm hoping to keep up my sleeve is that I"m definitely a "late-learner" - i.e. - I'm likely to get things wrong early in the course of studying, but the more tiems I see things, I tend to have a significant rise near the end of my studies (atleast when it came to school tests - who knows with this?! lol)

 

[GynGuy1983]

60's in UW is very solid, especially if you still have 1 month to go. You're well on your way to a 240+.

Does anyone know the correlation between percentage correct on USMLE Consult (Elsevier) to actual test results? I'm getting a 60% cumulative average (obviously, some higher, some lower) and I was curious to see what I would be getting. I'm looking for a 210-220. If I get a 220, drinks are on me.