Step 1 score prediction?

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Fillabuster

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Hi guys,

This is my first post. Here's the skinny:

Studied for step 1 for 5 weeks.
Took the exam on May 19th.
61 % overall on Uworld; fully completed. With the last several blocks averaging high 60's.
Did not do any practice exams.

I Felt reasonably comfortable on the actual exam. Marked about 4-6 questions per section. I checked about 16 questions after returning home, and learned that I guessed right on half of them. Hopefully I guessed right on half of the remaining questions that I marked.

I was really bothered by the fact that I didn't take any practice exams. So I decided to take one for the hell of it yesterday. Got a 234 on Uworld SA1. I heard it over shoots the score by several points (10 pts?). Is it a lock that I will most likely get a 224 or below. Is there any hope to get a 230+? Thanks guys

-Filla
 
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How did you manage to have the balls to take that test without taking a single practice exam? Whats wrong with you??
 
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Maybe this will make you feel better. Google "usmle score estimator clinical review"

If you drag the Qbank to 61 and the UW to 234, it gives you an estimate of 233 (range 220-246). So if I were you I'd be ok with it. In all likelihood you beat the average, and if you got lucky you did really well. Not such a bad spot to be in.
 
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You should be fine. Don't worry about it! I can understand not taking a practice test before the real deal...but taking one after?! Go relax...nothing you can change now anyway 🙂
 
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more than anything i cant believe you took a practice test AFTER your exam. Whats done is done man. It doesn't really matter anymore. Just wait patiently for your score.
 
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Agree with the guy above--taking a practice exam after the real thang is...unique.

That being said, don't listen the haters out there. I'm sure ya did a-ok.
 
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lol. Lots of people take step 1 without doing 13 practice tests. I'm only going to do 3, which probably makes me foolish as well.
 
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Thanks guys for all the feed back. Music md, thats a cool little Program! Hope its accurate.

I realize I'm a bit crazy to take an exam after the real thing. I really cannot explain my thought process, but at the time it made sense. 😕

My gut agrees with jfgavina. A 220 +/- 5 is probably what I'll get.

As for some of the other posts, I really can't tell who is being sarcastic and who isn't. But thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply.
 
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Fillabuster said:
Thanks guys for all the feed back. Music md, thats a cool little Program! Hope its accurate.

I realize I'm a bit crazy to take an exam after the real thing. I really cannot explain my thought process, but at the time it made sense. 😕

My gut agrees with jfgavina. A 220 +/- 5 is probably what I'll get.

As for some of the other posts, I really can't tell who is being sarcastic and who isn't. But thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply.
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Ya, can't believe you took a practice test after Step 1. I would think you would never want to see those sorta questions again. Just try to relax since that is all that you can do and hope for the best.
 
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you never know man. My friend took UWSA 1 and 2 within the week before his exam and actually scored higher on the real thing. I'd say you may be in the 230 range. You seem like you felt good leaving the exam so just hope for the best and don't stress over it now.

good luck!
 
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Step1Hash said:
you never know man. My friend took UWSA 1 and 2 within the week before his exam and actually scored higher on the real thing. I'd say you may be in the 230 range. You seem like you felt good leaving the exam so just hope for the best and don't stress over it now.

good luck!
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This is very encouraging! 230+ is a possibility. But I'm actually a below avg. Med student in terms of class rank. I did however study very very hard for step 1. Then again, so did the rest of the nation! I would be disappointed with anything below 220, happy with 220-230, and jumping for joy with 230+. Its in god's hands now🙂
 
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Fillabuster said:
This is very encouraging! 230+ is a possibility. But I'm actually a below avg. Med student in terms of class rank. I did however study very very hard for step 1. Then again, so did the rest of the nation! I would be disappointed with anything below 220, happy with 220-230, and jumping for joy with 230+. Its in god's hands now🙂
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Ya dude, no worries. If you felt like you gave yourself a chance and it looks like you did, I don't think you'll be too too disappointed with your score. Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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MrAgreeable said:
Ya dude, no worries. If you felt like you gave yourself a chance and it looks like you did, I don't think you'll be too too disappointed with your score. Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I hope you're right. I'm trying to keep an even keel, because I know that getting anything above 230 is very difficult. Gonna wait and hope for the best. But I'm also mentally prepared if I happen to get in the 215-225 range.
 
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Music MD said:
How did you manage to have the balls to take that test without taking a single practice exam? Whats wrong with you??
Click to expand...
I was way behind all year, short on time, and only had enough time to do a diagnostic UWSA1 to help diagnose my weaknesses, study a bit, and then quickly finish with 500 uworld questions. And, yep, I took the exam.

My last several random UW blocks ranged from 60-73, so I was feeling okay going in. But, I guess there's just nothing like a good serving of humble pie! When I finished that exam I felt totally unsure of myself and exceedingly ****ty. I wouldn't recommend it o_0

So, OP, you're not alone!

I hope you did well! :luck:
 
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You guys must have a tremendous preparation at your local med school to study only 5 weeks and do great in the exam. Or perhaps you just have a usmle-speciefic education. I started UW averaging 45% I'm getting 50%++ after 2 months of study. Only after dedicated study I'm getting 60% or more in my UW blocks. Lucky you..
 
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jfgavina said:
You guys must have a tremendous preparation at your local med school to study only 5 weeks and do great in the exam. Or perhaps you just have a usmle-speciefic education. I started UW averaging 45% I'm getting 50%++ after 2 months of study. Only after dedicated study I'm getting 60% or more in my UW blocks. Lucky you..
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do you not go to school in the US?
 
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No, I'm portuguese and I study here. Here we have more surgery-oriented classes. That results in less medical knowledge.
 
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jfgavina said:
No, I'm portuguese and I study here. Here we have more surgery-oriented classes. That results in less medical knowledge.
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I see. I don't think American students are any smarter on average than foreign students, not counting the Caribbean students. The system here just selects for those who are good test-takers. If you are learning medicine in a different system, it's going to be hard to adjust to an American test.
 
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70% of the examinations here are multiple choice/no wrong answer count just like step 1. The other 30% are oral examinations. We are used to multiple choice..
 
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jfgavina said:
70% of the examinations here are multiple choice/no wrong answer count just like step 1. The other 30% are oral examinations. We are used to multiple choice..
Click to expand...

I think what he was getting at was that taking the SAT eliminates certain bad test takers (in the sense that if you don't do well enough, you probably won't go to college as a generalization). From that pool, <30% of applicants to med school (who tend to be among the stronger students) are accepted and those tend to be ones who did well on the MCAT (the big standardized test). So the people taking Step 1 are the uber-testtakers. The ones who have done well repeatedly and had to prove themselves many, many times.

AlexMorph may have also been talking about volume. My senior year of high school (nearly 8 years ago, in fact) I took 29 standardized exams (and that was BEFORE standardized exams were as big of a deal as they are today). By contrast, I don't think I've taken an oral exam since high school (and that's only because I did an IB program in high school).

I've taken at LEAST one standardized exam every year since 3rd grade as required by my state's laws.

It's not that other people are unfamiliar with the format of multiple choice exams, I'm just saying...by this point in the US you've REALLY done a damn good job eliminating anyone who even *hints* at being a bad testtaker 🙁 (regardless of their ability to do other things).
 
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quepatho said:
I think what he was getting at was that taking the SAT eliminates certain bad test takers (in the sense that if you don't do well enough, you probably won't go to college as a generalization). From that pool, <30% of applicants to med school (who tend to be among the stronger students) are accepted and those tend to be ones who did well on the MCAT (the big standardized test). So the people taking Step 1 are the uber-testtakers. The ones who have done well repeatedly and had to prove themselves many, many times.

AlexMorph may have also been talking about volume. My senior year of high school (nearly 8 years ago, in fact) I took 29 standardized exams (and that was BEFORE standardized exams were as big of a deal as they are today). By contrast, I don't think I've taken an oral exam since high school (and that's only because I did an IB program in high school).

I've taken at LEAST one standardized exam every year since 3rd grade as required by my state's laws.

It's not that other people are unfamiliar with the format of multiple choice exams, I'm just saying...by this point in the US you've REALLY done a damn good job eliminating anyone who even *hints* at being a bad testtaker 🙁 (regardless of their ability to do other things).
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Thanks for explaining my statement. Yea, I wasn't saying foreigners are bad at MC. Just that, we have had a ton of practice in the same system by the time we get to Step 1.
 
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raynor123456 said:
I was way behind all year, short on time, and only had enough time to do a diagnostic UWSA1 to help diagnose my weaknesses, study a bit, and then quickly finish with 500 uworld questions. And, yep, I took the exam.
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This.

Aside from doing one full length to get a sense of the "feel" of staring at questions for 7 hrs, is there any real merit to burning days of study/uworld time to take multiple NBMEs (especially when you don't get detailed feedback)?
 
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namethatsmell said:
This.

Aside from doing one full length to get a sense of the "feel" of staring at questions for 7 hrs, is there any real merit to burning days of study/uworld time to take multiple NBMEs (especially when you don't get detailed feedback)?
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Some say it gets you used to their way of asking questions. Maybe allows you to gauge your progress over the prep period. But...the money adds up and you don't learn much content from it.
 
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AlexMorph said:
I see. I don't think American students are any smarter on average than foreign students, not counting the Caribbean students. The system here just selects for those who are good test-takers. If you are learning medicine in a different system, it's going to be hard to adjust to an American test.
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American board exams are supposedly really hard for some foreigners because of the fact that they're standardized multiple choice exams as well. I have relatives from India who took the Step 1 - didn't pass the first time because they were shocked when they got to the exam and it asked such tough MCQs. Their exams had all been written.
 
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MCQ's require a broader knowledge base, but they are annoying in that a person who studies the right "details" can do well even without good "understanding".
 
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Metfan2987 said:
Hooooooold on...you took a practice AFTER you took the step??????? wooow massively paranoid, go party!
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Paranoid isn't a strong enough word. After ten days of constant analysis regarding my performance on May 19th, I now feel that I did very poor on the exam, and it would be an achievement if I get close to the national average.

Apparently, I am hearing reports of Uworld SA over predicting by 20 points. So the 234 I received on the Uworld SA1 would put me in the 214 range. Anything higher than that seems unlikely.

Just my honest opinion😎

-Filla
 
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Fillabuster said:
Paranoid isn't a strong enough word. After ten days of constant analysis regarding my performance on May 19th, I now feel that I did very poor on the exam, and it would be an achievement if I get close to the national average.

Apparently, I am hearing reports of Uworld SA over predicting by 20 points. So the 234 I received on the Uworld SA1 would put me in the 214 range. Anything higher than that seems unlikely.

Just my honest opinion😎

-Filla
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Hey Filla- how'd things end up? I was just researching practice score correlations and came across this thread. I hope your uworld estimate did you well.
 
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jmillski said:
Hey Filla- how'd things end up? I was just researching practice score correlations and came across this thread. I hope your uworld estimate did you well.
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Hey! I'll be finding out my score on jul 13th...so only 17 days to go! I'll definitely come back and post here to let everyone know how it went.

I'm debating where I should open my scores, b/c rotations will have started by then. Should I open it when i'm at the hospital? or wait till 6-7pm when i come home? If i open them at home at least I can break something (Tv, dvd player, laptop..something expensive) if i see a low score!
 
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freditoj said:
Any updates?
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UPDATE: well didn't quite get the score I was hoping for, but near the avg. so i'm okay with it...i'll have to put a better effort for step 2, and hopefully will do much better

For those who got what they wanted or better, you have my heartiest congratulations!

Those who didn't get what they were hoping for, don't lose heart. Life is long, and we'll have many opportunities to proves ourselves.

Chin up.
 
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Averaged 64% on the most recent 300 Kaplan questions prior to taking boards. Averaged upper 60s% to low 70s% on UWorld. Took 2 practice NBME exams, one midway studying, scored 229, and the second, about a 1.5 weeks before actual exam, scored 240. Actual Step 1 Score of 240.
 
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