USMLE Done with DIT, 59% UW average, yet to do an NBME, 10 days left... how to move forward

[Zora98]

Hey, everyone! Wanted to reach out to you all at SDN to ask for step 1 prep advice.

Here's where I'm at: I started studying after my last shelf exam (currently going into 4th year; we take step 1 at the end of our 3rd year) a little more than 4 weeks ago. Did NBME 17 and scored a 174 with no studying apart from light biochem (B&B), pathoma, and sketchy micro review prior to dedicated. Since then I've finished going through the DIT course, while doing between 1-3 blocks of Uworld daily.

DIT took longer than I anticipated to go through daily, to the expense of doing more UW questions. As it stands, I have done 56% of UW questions, and have a 59% average. I also haven't done another NBME yet, but plan to do so this Saturday. I have my actual exam the following week (T-minus 10 days).

Not sure how much of an uphill battle I have ahead of me, but I have noticed greatly increased familiarity with the material, based on DIT and when I do and review UW questions. I rprobably should have done more NBME's, but my knowledge base needed some extensive rebuilding.

Anyway, I wanted to ask a few things:

• Which NBME should I take, if I could only take one? 18 or 19?
• After I take that NBME (~1 week before the exam), is it beneficial for me to try to whiz through UWORLD questions to finish the qbank, or is it better for me to read through the entirety of FA for 5 days and strengthen my knowledge base?
• Should I do a 2nd NBME around that same time, even?

Thanks!

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[STEPinthenameoflove2018]

10 days? Take nbme 18 don’t worry if it’s not too high you’re not used to nbme style questions ... then try nbme 19 and add 10-15 points since the curve is harsh.

I felt compelled to read but at this point it’s late
Keep doing questions - system specific of top weak areas so you can get some gains.

Best of luck!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Zora98]

10 days? Take nbme 18 don’t worry if it’s not too high you’re not used to nbme style questions ... then try nbme 19 and add 10-15 points since the curve is harsh.

I felt compelled to read but at this point it’s late
Keep doing questions - system specific of top weak areas so you can get some gains.

Best of luck!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Thanks for the advice! I just finished with NBME 18 and am pleasantly surprised.

NBME 17 (before dedicated, 4 weeks ago): 174
NBME 18 (1 week left): 215

I made made some stupid mistakes on about 4 questions (correct to incorrect, read too quickly), but the rest of my incorrects were stuff I either didn't know/recognize due to wording, or always get confused for something else.

How do you go about seeing what are the weak areas that you should focus on the most, based off from the score report? Is there a certain cutoff I should look for?