step 1: 261 - my experience

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

chair_leg

Full Member
5+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2017
Messages
11
Reaction score
7
i have written up my experience of preparing for the step 1 - hope this is helpful to some

Members don't see this ad.
 

Attachments

  • USMLE Step 1 experience.pdf
    206.3 KB · Views: 451
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Congratulations and Good luck on the remaining steps! What'd you say about the Anatomy and Pharmacology sections of the exam? And any sources that you'd recommend for the same?
 
Congratulations and Good luck on the remaining steps! What'd you say about the Anatomy and Pharmacology sections of the exam? And any sources that you'd recommend for the same?

anatomy - weirdly, i had a same concept come up 2-3 times. generally, i think cover all the first aid anatomy. anatomy is kinda hard to study for as there is just soo much variety to the type of questions they can test. there were a few that i wasnt familiar with but because i reviewed topics around that topic, i could make an educated guess (e.g. for branches of a nerve and when the choices didnt have the main branch, i chose a smaller branch which came off that main branch as an educated guess)

pharm - honestly, sketchy + UWorld will be enough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Hi chair_leg I took my exam on October 30th, I had good assesment scores on the nbme and uwsas, after the test I was happy it was over and kind of forgot about it for that day. But the next day I started to get flashbacks of my marked questions, I started looking for answers and got them right I believe but there’s one question I’m not sure, and it’s killing me. The anxiety is killing me, I have nightmares about the test. Did you have anxiety like me? I don’t know what to do while I wait, I tried to study for step 2 but it’s really hard cause step 1 is always on my mind.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
anatomy - weirdly, i had a same concept come up 2-3 times. generally, i think cover all the first aid anatomy. anatomy is kinda hard to study for as there is just soo much variety to the type of questions they can test. there were a few that i wasnt familiar with but because i reviewed topics around that topic, i could make an educated guess (e.g. for branches of a nerve and when the choices didnt have the main branch, i chose a smaller branch which came off that main branch as an educated guess)

pharm - honestly, sketchy + UWorld will be enough.

Thanks a lot for the info! Yeah, I guess you're right, there's always going to be surprises on the exam but did you happen to see a lot of trauma questions on the test, since you mentioned repetition of concepts? Hope I'm not bothering you too much.
 
Thanks a lot for the info! Yeah, I guess you're right, there's always going to be surprises on the exam but did you happen to see a lot of trauma questions on the test, since you mentioned repetition of concepts? Hope I'm not bothering you too much.

the concept that repeated a few times was in the MSK section of FA, so wasnt that hard.
 
Hi chair_leg I took my exam on October 30th, I had good assesment scores on the nbme and uwsas, after the test I was happy it was over and kind of forgot about it for that day. But the next day I started to get flashbacks of my marked questions, I started looking for answers and got them right I believe but there’s one question I’m not sure, and it’s killing me. The anxiety is killing me, I have nightmares about the test. Did you have anxiety like me? I don’t know what to do while I wait, I tried to study for step 2 but it’s really hard cause step 1 is always on my mind.

i also had some anxiety during the wait. you are not alone. try to focus on other things for now. theres not much you can do now - take a break/holiday or just carry on with life/uni for now.

speak to family/friends about it - might help you relieve some anxiety.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Thanks this post!! Keeping this for later, my test is in May.

I was wondering if you overall felt that everything was in UFAP? Or did you feel like when you got to the exam there was a lot of stuff you hadn't seen and had to reason more than anything?
 
Thanks this post!! Keeping this for later, my test is in May.

I was wondering if you overall felt that everything was in UFAP? Or did you feel like when you got to the exam there was a lot of stuff you hadn't seen and had to reason more than anything?

definitely UFAP covered most things - but there were quite a few questions that were multi step questions (its been a few months, i dont remember exactly), but i feel like FA gives you the information/content and UWorld does a good job in helping you develop the thinking process in approaching questions.
 
Top