Step 1, 2.5 months away, not doing stellar on practice

[MedScat]

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Hello all,
Background: not a great standardized test taker, preformed 54 percentile on the MCAT. I score at or slightly above average on exams at my US MD school, and we just took an NBME about 3 weeks ago in which i scored a 177 (179 was average for my class). I'm really struggling to see how i can increase 60ish points by April. I do practice questions, and only get like only 50% of them right most of the time. I don't know what i'm doing wrong! I have UWorld, I use Scholar RX, I just bought Kaplan. I've been reviewing First Aid with the Scholar Rx videos and using sketchy for pharm and micro as well as Anking for pharm. Am I freaking out too soon? Do scores go up? I feel OK that I was at average for the NBME but, what If i don't increase by the next one? I'm just not sure where I'm supposed to be at in terms of preparation. We only have 5 weeks of dedicated which I'm planning to fill mostly with UWorld. What percentage of practice questions should I be getting right to score at least average on Step 1??

PS: While I'm here, HOW DOES ONE LEARN EMBRYOLOGY AND LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE??

 

[GoSpursGo]

I know you're posting this just to get some reassurance, but you answered your own question in your post--you're scoring right around the average for your class 2.5 months out, so if the average student ultimately makes a ~230 you're likely going to get something in that range.

Make yourself a study plan with concrete goals to achieve be specific dates. If your plan is "I'm going to do as much as I can," inevitably you're going to let yourself stop too early. If you stick with your plan you will be fine.

 

[MedScat]

Thanks...I guess reassurance is what I’m looking for. More like, is it really realistic to think going up 60 points in 2 months is realistic? Is it similar to what you step 1 Survivors experienced?

 

[libertyyne]

My class average increase from cbse was 20-30 points. I think the largest jump was close to 60 points. So it is possible. Just work hard and focus on the task at hand, worrying about increases wont help you at this stage in the game. Just grind.

 

[FMDoge2020]

My guess is your final score will range anywhere from 220~240. I would start looking for weaknesses in knowledge and patch them up as you go. Your score will keep going up if you do that.

Usually average student like us peak 3~4weeks into dedicated, so you still have time to improve. I only improve by about 30points but that's because we took it right before dedicated started.

As with lymphatic and embryology, focus on what is in First Aid. And do it like any other topics by going through it multiple times. Repetition via your study method of choice.



Sent from my SM-G965U using SDN mobile

 

[deleted645092]

I took my first NBME 3 months before my actual Step 1 and went up exactly 30 points so it's definitely possible. You're gonna have to grind hard and focus on studying your weak points. You're not going to want to because it's frustrating to take more time to learn them relative to what's easy for you, but you have to push through that.