What was your UW/Kap/NBME improvement thru 6wks before exam?

[umwolv16]

I'm currently at a 57% on both Kaplan and UWorld. I am wondering what a reasonable improvement could be over the next 6 weeks? I have seen some people post NBME exams 2 months before and another NBME 2 wks before and their scores didn't seem to improve much. Anyone care to share?! Thanks.

I looked through posts, but couldn't find a similar thread so I have to ask.

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[johndoe3344]

Honestly, I'm in a similar situation, and different people will tell you different things. In general, if you start at a higher point, your scores are less likely to improve. In general, if you don't understand concepts, but you memorized all the random details from FA, your scores are likely to plateau at a lower point. In general, if you spend a lot of time on quality studying, especially targeting your weaknesses, your scores are likely to improve more.

I think what you should do is to not focus so much on how many points you're going to improve. Look at your weaknesses, look at your strengths, study the hardest and the best you can for the next six weeks (or however long you have), and when you take the exam(s) again, that will be how much you improve. It means absolutely nothing if I sit here and tell you I went from a 200 to 250 in a month, or that this other guy studied for 2 months and got only from a 200 to 220. Neither of these anecdotes will help you in the slightest bit because you're not them, and what happened to these people won't necessarily happen to you.

 

[umwolv16]

Agree with everything you say. The main reason I was asking is b/c I was expecting a pretty decent improvement in the next 6 wks (esp. looking at stuff I havent in a year... i.e. embryo). However, after looking through some posts I found a lot of people didn't make the improvements I was expecting in 6 wks (+5% on my qbanks or a little more). It seems people tend to maintain there scores throughout the study period for the most part. I am hoping to see if this feeling of mine is accurate.

I agree that what I am told is arbitrary and that I'll continue to study hard. My curiosity to know if my feelings are accurate has gotten the best of me...

 

[umwolv16]

Also, my qbank tests are completely random (not on one subject), so I'm assuming it will improve. Are people citing their more recent blocks % or their overall? I'm hoping to be scoring 63% in my blocks near the end. I'm assuming you apply your recent block % to the score calculators online and not your overall.

 

[newdoc2013]

i started around 55% in U World, ended up at like 70-75% in U World in 6 weeks using FA, U World, USMLERx and some ancillary resources to fill gaps in like High Yield Neuro.

Ended up with a 247.

 

[umwolv16]

Thanks newdoc! I haven't been able to study for my Endocrine Unit test tomorrow b/c I was bothered by this. I don't expect to score a 247 (incredible job!), but I just wanted reassurance that a 230 range is feasible.

Hope to hear some other stories.

 

[shan564]

There are lots of posts on this topic in the official USMLE Step 1 Experiences thread and in various other threads.

But I'll answer the question nonetheless.

I took UWSA1 in February and got 192. People say that UWSA1 is somewhat overpredictive.

I started full-time study in March, at which point I was around 54-55% on UW.

In late March, I scored 230 on UWSA2 (also probably an overprediction). At that point, I was averaging around 60-65% on most of my Qbank sets (I was doing both UW and Kaplan).

In early April, I scored 221 on NBME 7, and about a week later (maybe 2 weeks before today), I scored 228 on NBME 11. At this point, I was around 60-70% on most Qbank sets. This was right before I started DIT.

After about 1.5 weeks of the DIT course, I scored 247 on NBME 12 yesterday and I'm averaging about 70-80% on UW. I think this might be somewhat of an overprediction too - I'm guessing that DIT makes it a point to make sure that they teach all of the points that appear on UW and on NBME exams, so I'm guessing that my real score will be lower.

 

[umwolv16]

Thanks for the response, Shan. I didn't notice that thread, but after you mentioned it I looked through it and found exactly what I was looking for! Feel much better now. No need to continue this thread. Appreciate your response!

 

[shan564]

Thanks for the response, Shan. I didn't notice that thread, but after you mentioned it I looked through it and found exactly what I was looking for! Feel much better now. No need to continue this thread. Appreciate your response!

If you want to read even more responses, check out the 2011 edition of that thread. There are also similar threads on other forums, but those are largely populated by people from countries with different training systems, so they might not be as applicable to you.