Good luck all. I have my exam end of March and hope to be the 1st one to post here for 2010.
Official 2010 USMLE Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread
- Thread starter FMD212
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Not many people have true insight into their weaknesses as you are claiming to have. People have different curricula and having done a course recently doesn't necessarily mean you are more prepared for related board questions as you may be for a course you did earlier, but more thoroughly, and with more board relevant material.
The fact is that most people don't truly know what their weaknesses are, based on what is expected of them by the boards. Putting a greater emphasis on your weaknesses early in the course of your review will be more beneficial on many levels as it ensure that you can review it thoroughly instead of possibly shortchanging your weaknesses when you are short on time and also allows you to have a second run through the material.
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Decently??? I would be ecstatic if I got your score!
As for my plan, yeah it makes sense to take an NBME to learn our weaknesses. You don't know them until you take the test. Fortunately my school has an NBME exam towards the end of April, about 3 weeks before classes let out. Plus we have a comprehensive Pathology final and Pharm as well (our school is ridiculous 515 drugs). Should be set for two of the P's before I start my May 16-June16 cram fest.
I want to keep it simple, FA + RR + UWorld 100%, and redo my mistakes one more time before the exam. I want to read BRS Phys, HY Neuro, RR Biochem, HYBIOstats or HY Behavioral.... Not sure if I will get around to reading all those books in 4 weeks. What do you guys think? Hoping for 235+, but would still be happy for if I can break 230.
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My suggested method for strengths and weaknesses.
1)Consult with friends to determine large topic areas that your school teaches poorly and almost everyone agrees on this. Do this before starting your studies. For me this was biochemistry, micro, and image based path.
2) Review old exams to look for areas of weakness such as for me acid base, restrictive and obstructive lung disease, cardiomyopathies, etc.
3) Before using FA review your big topic areas from number one above with books like RR or Kaplan. This helps teach you subjects that you dont understand. FA does not generally improve understanding.
4) Do a ton of questions specific to the areas in 1). In Path for example the Robbins question book is excellent.
5) Then read FA to see how emphasized your personal problem areas are. For example acid base is very simple on the boards so I did not worry so much about it.
6) Do a small round of USMLE style questions across all topic areas. Say two hundred total to get your feet wet.
7)Take an NBME assessment and review the report to see if your big areas seem ok and what weaknesses you are left with.
The overall key is to be sure you are fundamentally strong with understanding in all areas. Once understanding is established you can work on the brute detail that is required to make an excellent score.
Like any standardized exam the key to doing well is to not miss any easy questions.
1)Consult with friends to determine large topic areas that your school teaches poorly and almost everyone agrees on this. Do this before starting your studies. For me this was biochemistry, micro, and image based path.
2) Review old exams to look for areas of weakness such as for me acid base, restrictive and obstructive lung disease, cardiomyopathies, etc.
3) Before using FA review your big topic areas from number one above with books like RR or Kaplan. This helps teach you subjects that you dont understand. FA does not generally improve understanding.
4) Do a ton of questions specific to the areas in 1). In Path for example the Robbins question book is excellent.
5) Then read FA to see how emphasized your personal problem areas are. For example acid base is very simple on the boards so I did not worry so much about it.
6) Do a small round of USMLE style questions across all topic areas. Say two hundred total to get your feet wet.
7)Take an NBME assessment and review the report to see if your big areas seem ok and what weaknesses you are left with.
The overall key is to be sure you are fundamentally strong with understanding in all areas. Once understanding is established you can work on the brute detail that is required to make an excellent score.
Like any standardized exam the key to doing well is to not miss any easy questions.
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Thanks man, I appreciate that. Just the SDN-affect talking.
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lol thanks for jinxing me! 238/99
i'm a carib student...would this be considered competitive for an internal med and/or cardiology residency?
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Haha nice man, we should start a club. You should definitely be alright for IM (cards is after IM, so they don't really look at your Step 1 score).
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Cardio is not a residency so don't worry about that just yet.
As a Carib student, you are well placed for a great IM program, but probably still filtered out of the top programs due to the non-LCME status.
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Got mine at roughly 6am PST (9am EST)
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McGillGrad,
How many hours per day were you putting in? I am currently planning on doing a very similar strategy with a modified Taus and NBME right after finals to gauge my weak points. However, I am a little worried because I have 5 weeks of dedicated time and I'm not sure if that's enough to get through all of Taus; I am annotating FA now with BRS physio and I hope to consolidate my sources (HY Neuro/BRS physio/Kaplan Biochem) everything by the end of Spring Break (I guess just a very slow Taus first-pass). Just curious how exactly you modified it. Thanks again.
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I tried to get in 6-8 hours of actual studying. That doesn't count the breaks and the gym.
Your 5 weeks of study will be enough but unfortunately, you will need to put in closer to 8-10 hours a day to really get 3 full 'looks' at the material. If you really push yourself and sacrifice for this 5 weeks, you can create miracles. ZagDoc did it in about 5 weeks and he scored in the 250s.
That slow Taus pass is what I did, too. I used extra time to read through and annotate the material so I was ready to tackle the review material and practice questions. Although 3 full passes and the 2-week review are ideal, they take 8-10 weeks. If you can get 1-2 full passes, plus the 2-week review in during your 5 weeks, you will be in great shape. Don't forget that you should be spending most of your time reading at the beginning and most of your time doing practice questions at the end.
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congratulations! i was wondering where your score was at
hope to see you in cardiology way into the future sometime.- Joined
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What is the timeframe for scores to be released? The NBME says 3-6 weeks, but on here I'm consistently seeing people say 3 weeks. Anyone take longer than 3? Shorter?
(By the way, I took Step 1 on Feb. 19th with a modified Taus schedule and I think it went really well, so thanks SDN. Will update with scores when they come in.)
(By the way, I took Step 1 on Feb. 19th with a modified Taus schedule and I think it went really well, so thanks SDN. Will update with scores when they come in.)
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Generally 4 Wednesdays after you take it. It is up to 6 weeks during busy periods when all med students in the US and Canada take it in summer.
I've read over the 2009 experiences thread far more times than I care to admit. Figured it was only right to post my experience.
Intro: I'm an IMG at one of the big 4. Was a decent but not amazing student. Never Dean's listed or anything. I really got serious into studying during my last semester on the island and managed to get through all the Kaplan videos with the books as I was studying for shelf exams. I got a 77 on the comprehensive exam at the end of the semester (~217). Coming out my goal was a 99. I took 2 weeks off for the holidays and to relax, but I actually got sick and was in bed for most of it.
Started studying January 4th and my test was today March 2nd.
Stats:
1/4 NBME1 410/203 (Holy panic batman!)- looking back, I'm calling this one a fluke, but at the time it actually really helped put the fear of the USMLE God in me.
1/10 NBME2 490/220 (Little better, but still a long way to go)
1/17 NBME3 530/229 (Ok, now we're getting somewhere)
1/24 NBME4 530/229
1/31 NBME5 540/231 (Panic is starting to set in. Still a month to go, but 3 weeks at the same score scared me)
2/3 USMLEconsult Scorrelator 74%/250 (Haha. I wish)
2/7 NBME6 590/242 (Excited for getting into 99 territory)
2/14 UWA1 630/245 (Reset expectations. Met my original goal. New goal 250)
2/17 Kaplan Full length 72% 245 (Feeling good that I may actually be at that level)
2/21 UWA2 700/256 (WHAT?!?!)
2/24 Free 150 82% 243 (Uhoh Going the wrong way- lots of stupid mistakes when I went back over it)
2/28 NBME7 620/249 (Felt like I was in a good spot going into the test)
3/2 STEP1 (clinical review predicts me at 251)- 244 (Mean-221, SD-23)
Studying:
My studying was 7 days a week for 8 weeks. I started usually right around 9 and went until I was hungry for dinner, usually somewhere between 5 and 6. I'm the type who has to do it all in one sitting with only minimal breaks. The evenings I usually took to myself. Some nights if I was motivated I'd do some more reading, but not usually. Some nights I'd do webpath. Generally, it was nothing strenuous. Sleep is really important in my opinion. I shrugged it off when my neuro professor talked about consolidation while you sleep. I'm a believer. On to the studying...
First two weeks I watched the new PASS videos at 1.5 speed. These are really good. I really like Dr. F and the other guy. However, I don't like his 90% mindset. I feel like you should aim to get everything and to say you're OK with 90% got me annoyed because it reminded me of my classmates who were the P=MD type. That said he definitely makes some connections that I wish were made in my classes and some of the generalizations are really helpful. Just make sure you get the exceptions down too. During this time I was doing ~150 Kaplan qbank questions to break things up (48 unused/random).
Next two weeks I went through the Kaplan books again going quickly over stuff I was more confident on. Going slower on stuff I didn't feel good about. Also went through RR during this time. I love the book, but it is pretty dense. Finished Kaplan qbank and started USMLEconsult during this time. This was my plateau phase around 230.
The next week I started FA. I had a really hard time getting to the point where I felt I was ready for it. I had it in my mind that FA is a review book and I should use it for that... review. 90% of everything is in there though. I started using Rx at this point. When I finished a section I'd do 30-40 q's from just that section. Only did 1 really solid run through.
From this point on I did all questions for the last three weeks. I really like that Rx had the option to do a full 336 question exam. I did one every day (minus Sundays when I was taking assessments). Would take me pretty much a full day to do the exam and go over the answers. I would also do some casual reading at night whether it was a section of RR I was not confident on or BRS phys or FA. When I was done with Rx, I moved on to UW. I started my subscription in my first semester and used it primarily for shelf studying. I finished it during my 5th semester. I reset it at this point and maintained about 300/day. In the few days between when I finished UW and my test day I tried bits of FA Q&A, Kaplan q book, Kaplan Physio q bank, Kaplan IV q's, and USMLEconsult Robbins bank to fill the time.
Q Bank Review:
So I calculated that i did well over 10,000 practice questions during my study period. I can't stress the important of practice questions. I probably went a little overboard, but I found thinking through things taught me more than reading from a book. It is so easy to read it in a book and say 'oh. I got this.' Questions don't lie. They'll tell you if you understand the concept or not. And with the good q banks you can see where your thought process went wrong. For me seeing the patterns over and over really helped. It was also a way to keep everything fresh by doing random blocks.
UW (76%- clinical review says 268. yea right) Gold standard. People say it over and over. There is nothing out there that is better. The questions are well written and simulate Step questions the best. Occasionally, there triple jumps are excessive, but not that often. Explanations are the best. Anyone not using it is doing a disservice to themself.Just wish there were more.
Rx (77%- predicts 250) Best of the rest. Majority are on the easier side, but it does what it says. It tests your knowledge of FA. Questions are generally well written. A few mistakes here and there. Liked the full or half simulation option. Software is glitchy. It would mark questions that I answered as not answered on occasion. It does have a large number of questions which is good. Explanations were pretty good for the most part.
Kaplan (67%- 238) Good for teaching yourself not to freak out when you see a completely obscure questions. Nit-picky detail oriented. Good for those of you who feel they need to know EVERYTHING. Explanations are sufficient, but not great. Not a huge fan.
USMLEConsult (74%- only did ~50%) I had such high hopes for this bank since it's endorsed by Goljan. I was severely disappointed. I thought it was horrible. Typo's, different type fonts, mistakes, explanations were horrible, some questions go out of their way to confuse you by calling certain things really obscure names that you'll never hear again. I wish I hadn't wasted my money.
FA Q&A- basically Rx in book form.
Kaplan q book- see Kaplan q bank in book form
Kaplan full length- same
Kaplan physio bank- These questions are so way out there difficult. For masochists only.
Robbins test bank- little better than consult but not much. Again wish I hadn't wasted the money
Free 150- little easier than the real thing in my opinion. Definitely worth doing since a) it's free and b) to get a feeling for how the media questions work with the moving of the stethoscope and everything. Also, I had heard questions are repeated on the Step. I went over it again yesterday just in case, but I didn't have any duplicates.
NBME's- I used them to follow my progression and identify weak spots. Since you don't get the answers, that's all they are good for.
Things I wish I did differently:
I would have started FA earlier and skipped going through the Kaplan books again. Now, point of caution. FA is a great book and like I said has at least 90% of everything you'll see. It just isn't memorizing FA though. The Step is a test of application. That is why I am such a big fan of doing questions. You can know FA forwards, backwards, whatever, but they still presented the information in a way that I had not seen before or expected. So yes, it is important to know all the words in FA, but it's more than just that in my opinion. Other than that I don't think there is too much I would have done differently.
Test day:
It's been kind of a blur. I'm not going to break it down section by section because everyone's test is different anyway. But a few general points. Question-style-wize I felt it was 60:40 UW to NBME. Sound questions I thought were difficult. I had 3 I believe and none of them could be answered solely by the stem. There were a good number of gross pictures. The only one that caught me by surprise was a 3d heart scan asking me to identify a blood vessel. Histo pictures I hated. Most were too small. One was in black and white (Gee thanks). Couple graphs and charts per block, but nothing out of left field. There were a few questions that were just way out there. I couldn't even find it in Costanzo. Wikipedia had 2 lines about the protein in the question.
Timing: I can see why some people have problems. I go extremely quickly. I would finish UW blocks with about 30 mins left. I never finished a block today with more than 20 minutes left. I think inherently you just go a little slower. Read the stem one more time just to make sure or go through the pathway one more time. The questions that you have no clue for, you try and reason through a little harder/longer instead of saying I don't know and moving on like you might do in practice question block. Something to be careful about.
Something else I wanted to mention that didn't fit anywhere else. I personally don't understand the obsession with making a schedule or following one. Everybody is different. I know people who wasted 2 weeks trying to make a schedule. Didn't study at all. Just tried to make a schedule. I get that sometimes you just need a starting point. I feel like setting a schedule you are wasting time on some stuff you don't need to review as hard, while going too quickly through stuff that deserves more time. Then God forbid you get off schedule, it's panic and wasting more time revising the schedule. Just start. You'll get a feel for where you need to go. End rant.
Finally, a good support system is a must. Supportive family and understanding friends was huge.
Good luck to everyone else taking it this Step season.
Intro: I'm an IMG at one of the big 4. Was a decent but not amazing student. Never Dean's listed or anything. I really got serious into studying during my last semester on the island and managed to get through all the Kaplan videos with the books as I was studying for shelf exams. I got a 77 on the comprehensive exam at the end of the semester (~217). Coming out my goal was a 99. I took 2 weeks off for the holidays and to relax, but I actually got sick and was in bed for most of it.
Started studying January 4th and my test was today March 2nd.
Stats:
1/4 NBME1 410/203 (Holy panic batman!)- looking back, I'm calling this one a fluke, but at the time it actually really helped put the fear of the USMLE God in me.
1/10 NBME2 490/220 (Little better, but still a long way to go)
1/17 NBME3 530/229 (Ok, now we're getting somewhere)
1/24 NBME4 530/229
1/31 NBME5 540/231 (Panic is starting to set in. Still a month to go, but 3 weeks at the same score scared me)
2/3 USMLEconsult Scorrelator 74%/250 (Haha. I wish)
2/7 NBME6 590/242 (Excited for getting into 99 territory)
2/14 UWA1 630/245 (Reset expectations. Met my original goal. New goal 250)
2/17 Kaplan Full length 72% 245 (Feeling good that I may actually be at that level)
2/21 UWA2 700/256 (WHAT?!?!)
2/24 Free 150 82% 243 (Uhoh Going the wrong way- lots of stupid mistakes when I went back over it)
2/28 NBME7 620/249 (Felt like I was in a good spot going into the test)
3/2 STEP1 (clinical review predicts me at 251)- 244 (Mean-221, SD-23)
Studying:
My studying was 7 days a week for 8 weeks. I started usually right around 9 and went until I was hungry for dinner, usually somewhere between 5 and 6. I'm the type who has to do it all in one sitting with only minimal breaks. The evenings I usually took to myself. Some nights if I was motivated I'd do some more reading, but not usually. Some nights I'd do webpath. Generally, it was nothing strenuous. Sleep is really important in my opinion. I shrugged it off when my neuro professor talked about consolidation while you sleep. I'm a believer. On to the studying...
First two weeks I watched the new PASS videos at 1.5 speed. These are really good. I really like Dr. F and the other guy. However, I don't like his 90% mindset. I feel like you should aim to get everything and to say you're OK with 90% got me annoyed because it reminded me of my classmates who were the P=MD type. That said he definitely makes some connections that I wish were made in my classes and some of the generalizations are really helpful. Just make sure you get the exceptions down too. During this time I was doing ~150 Kaplan qbank questions to break things up (48 unused/random).
Next two weeks I went through the Kaplan books again going quickly over stuff I was more confident on. Going slower on stuff I didn't feel good about. Also went through RR during this time. I love the book, but it is pretty dense. Finished Kaplan qbank and started USMLEconsult during this time. This was my plateau phase around 230.
The next week I started FA. I had a really hard time getting to the point where I felt I was ready for it. I had it in my mind that FA is a review book and I should use it for that... review. 90% of everything is in there though. I started using Rx at this point. When I finished a section I'd do 30-40 q's from just that section. Only did 1 really solid run through.
From this point on I did all questions for the last three weeks. I really like that Rx had the option to do a full 336 question exam. I did one every day (minus Sundays when I was taking assessments). Would take me pretty much a full day to do the exam and go over the answers. I would also do some casual reading at night whether it was a section of RR I was not confident on or BRS phys or FA. When I was done with Rx, I moved on to UW. I started my subscription in my first semester and used it primarily for shelf studying. I finished it during my 5th semester. I reset it at this point and maintained about 300/day. In the few days between when I finished UW and my test day I tried bits of FA Q&A, Kaplan q book, Kaplan Physio q bank, Kaplan IV q's, and USMLEconsult Robbins bank to fill the time.
Q Bank Review:
So I calculated that i did well over 10,000 practice questions during my study period. I can't stress the important of practice questions. I probably went a little overboard, but I found thinking through things taught me more than reading from a book. It is so easy to read it in a book and say 'oh. I got this.' Questions don't lie. They'll tell you if you understand the concept or not. And with the good q banks you can see where your thought process went wrong. For me seeing the patterns over and over really helped. It was also a way to keep everything fresh by doing random blocks.
UW (76%- clinical review says 268. yea right) Gold standard. People say it over and over. There is nothing out there that is better. The questions are well written and simulate Step questions the best. Occasionally, there triple jumps are excessive, but not that often. Explanations are the best. Anyone not using it is doing a disservice to themself.Just wish there were more.
Rx (77%- predicts 250) Best of the rest. Majority are on the easier side, but it does what it says. It tests your knowledge of FA. Questions are generally well written. A few mistakes here and there. Liked the full or half simulation option. Software is glitchy. It would mark questions that I answered as not answered on occasion. It does have a large number of questions which is good. Explanations were pretty good for the most part.
Kaplan (67%- 238) Good for teaching yourself not to freak out when you see a completely obscure questions. Nit-picky detail oriented. Good for those of you who feel they need to know EVERYTHING. Explanations are sufficient, but not great. Not a huge fan.
USMLEConsult (74%- only did ~50%) I had such high hopes for this bank since it's endorsed by Goljan. I was severely disappointed. I thought it was horrible. Typo's, different type fonts, mistakes, explanations were horrible, some questions go out of their way to confuse you by calling certain things really obscure names that you'll never hear again. I wish I hadn't wasted my money.
FA Q&A- basically Rx in book form.
Kaplan q book- see Kaplan q bank in book form
Kaplan full length- same
Kaplan physio bank- These questions are so way out there difficult. For masochists only.
Robbins test bank- little better than consult but not much. Again wish I hadn't wasted the money
Free 150- little easier than the real thing in my opinion. Definitely worth doing since a) it's free and b) to get a feeling for how the media questions work with the moving of the stethoscope and everything. Also, I had heard questions are repeated on the Step. I went over it again yesterday just in case, but I didn't have any duplicates.
NBME's- I used them to follow my progression and identify weak spots. Since you don't get the answers, that's all they are good for.
Things I wish I did differently:
I would have started FA earlier and skipped going through the Kaplan books again. Now, point of caution. FA is a great book and like I said has at least 90% of everything you'll see. It just isn't memorizing FA though. The Step is a test of application. That is why I am such a big fan of doing questions. You can know FA forwards, backwards, whatever, but they still presented the information in a way that I had not seen before or expected. So yes, it is important to know all the words in FA, but it's more than just that in my opinion. Other than that I don't think there is too much I would have done differently.
Test day:
It's been kind of a blur. I'm not going to break it down section by section because everyone's test is different anyway. But a few general points. Question-style-wize I felt it was 60:40 UW to NBME. Sound questions I thought were difficult. I had 3 I believe and none of them could be answered solely by the stem. There were a good number of gross pictures. The only one that caught me by surprise was a 3d heart scan asking me to identify a blood vessel. Histo pictures I hated. Most were too small. One was in black and white (Gee thanks). Couple graphs and charts per block, but nothing out of left field. There were a few questions that were just way out there. I couldn't even find it in Costanzo. Wikipedia had 2 lines about the protein in the question.
Timing: I can see why some people have problems. I go extremely quickly. I would finish UW blocks with about 30 mins left. I never finished a block today with more than 20 minutes left. I think inherently you just go a little slower. Read the stem one more time just to make sure or go through the pathway one more time. The questions that you have no clue for, you try and reason through a little harder/longer instead of saying I don't know and moving on like you might do in practice question block. Something to be careful about.
Something else I wanted to mention that didn't fit anywhere else. I personally don't understand the obsession with making a schedule or following one. Everybody is different. I know people who wasted 2 weeks trying to make a schedule. Didn't study at all. Just tried to make a schedule. I get that sometimes you just need a starting point. I feel like setting a schedule you are wasting time on some stuff you don't need to review as hard, while going too quickly through stuff that deserves more time. Then God forbid you get off schedule, it's panic and wasting more time revising the schedule. Just start. You'll get a feel for where you need to go. End rant.
Finally, a good support system is a must. Supportive family and understanding friends was huge.
Good luck to everyone else taking it this Step season.
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i am an IMG never did the NBME, did the whole UWorld cumulative score 76%, actual score 99/272
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Wow, thats the higest score i have ever seen i think. Congratulations!
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Just got my score report- 2.5 weeks after the test- 250/99. Thanks SDN. For the record, I basically used the Taus method, and, after getting my score back (and going from a 202 on my first practice test, 6.5 weeks out), I would highly, highly recommend it.
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Step ownage stories make my heart melt. I need that motivation to get through this ****! Congrats to everyone who's taken it already and gotten the score they wanted.
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Oh look! I must be studying for boards since I'm back on SDN.
I need a bit of help -- I feel really dumb asking this, but where do I find practice NBMEs? I want to take one or two before Step 1 (1 April -- yay.) but I can't find where to buy them anywhere.
I love the Step ownage stories too -- I hope to be adding one myself in a few weeks!
I need a bit of help -- I feel really dumb asking this, but where do I find practice NBMEs? I want to take one or two before Step 1 (1 April -- yay.) but I can't find where to buy them anywhere.
I love the Step ownage stories too -- I hope to be adding one myself in a few weeks!
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do most students who do well on the boards take the NBMEs? i know i will be short on time with the studying, and i'm not sure if i want to take time out for the NBMEs (since they don't have answers to them). do most med students preparing for the boards take them in general, too? or is it just an SDN thing going on? i'm pretty good at gauging myself..and i know my strengths & weaknesses.
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do most students who do well on the boards take the NBMEs? i know i will be short on time with the studying, and i'm not sure if i want to take time out for the NBMEs (since they don't have answers to them). do most med students preparing for the boards take them in general, too? or is it just an SDN thing going on? i'm pretty good at gauging myself..and i know my strengths & weaknesses.
it's pretty much a consensus that nbme is the most realistic gauge you can get is it not?
at least take one, its 3 hrs ish
and if u feel real guilty about no answers, u can get offline version to study from if u want
it's pretty much a consensus that nbme is the most realistic gauge you can get is it not?
at least take one, its 3 hrs ish
and if u feel real guilty about no answers, u can get offline version to study from if u want
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Hey guys, can we please keep this thread a bit clean: Just scores and experiences. It makes for a better viewing experience. Thanks.
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And apparently a 274 on Step II, according to your only other post on here.
Not saying it didn't happen, but that's a hell of a mix of consistency and domination.
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Took exam Late Feb. Bad news came today: 186/74 (FAIL).
My ill-advised study "plan" was this:
Score report says I bombed several areas I had done very well with on both NBME's. Not sure how/why that happened.
So... here's a story that does not fit the SDN mold of "I got the exact same 249/99 on the NBME and on the USMLE!" I dropped 25 points in 3 days. Back to the drawing board for me.
My ill-advised study "plan" was this:
- Studied over the summer for COMLEX
- Aug, 2009 comlex 1 = 520 (82)
- Didn't study for a while
- 2/05/10: NBME 6 = ~200
- I thought: Hmm... maybe I'll go ahead and take this thing before my time runs out.
- Studied like crazy (while on rotation) for 17 days.
- Finished ~80% of Step Up to usmle 1
- Finished total of 1750 q's on uworld w/ 50%; some random, some focused by system (about 1/2 of these I did last summer); towards the end I was scoring in the 60% range.
- 2/22/10 NBME 5 = ~210
- My deadline was running out and I decided I'd be "happy" >200 so I consolidated for a few days and took the exam.
Score report says I bombed several areas I had done very well with on both NBME's. Not sure how/why that happened.
So... here's a story that does not fit the SDN mold of "I got the exact same 249/99 on the NBME and on the USMLE!" I dropped 25 points in 3 days. Back to the drawing board for me.
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Sorry to hear Lemon. Sounds fishy being above 200/210, to have that significant of a drop. Good luck as you continue on.
I was really really hoping to get my score back yesterday, but no. (Took it on the 2nd of March) Not sure if i can take another week of anticipation.
I was really really hoping to get my score back yesterday, but no. (Took it on the 2nd of March) Not sure if i can take another week of anticipation.
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Started studying January 4th and my test was today March 2nd.
Stats:
1/4 NBME1 410/203 (Holy panic batman!)- looking back, I'm calling this one a fluke, but at the time it actually really helped put the fear of the USMLE God in me.
1/10 NBME2 490/220 (Little better, but still a long way to go)
1/17 NBME3 530/229 (Ok, now we're getting somewhere)
1/24 NBME4 530/229
1/31 NBME5 540/231 (Panic is starting to set in. Still a month to go, but 3 weeks at the same score scared me)
2/3 USMLEconsult Scorrelator 74%/250 (Haha. I wish)
2/7 NBME6 590/242 (Excited for getting into 99 territory)
2/14 UWA1 630/245 (Reset expectations. Met my original goal. New goal 250)
2/17 Kaplan Full length 72% 245 (Feeling good that I may actually be at that level)
2/21 UWA2 700/256 (WHAT?!?!)
2/24 Free 150 82% 243 (Uhoh Going the wrong way- lots of stupid mistakes when I went back over it)
2/28 NBME7 620/249 (Felt like I was in a good spot going into the test)
3/2 STEP1 (clinical review predicts me at 251)- 244 (Mean-221; SD-23)
Got my score back this morning with a 244. I thought I had a chance at 250, but it is what it is. Surpassed my original goal, so I can't complain. Satisfied is the best word I can think of to describe it.
Good luck to all this season's Step takers.
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another data to support the predictive power of the free 150
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Congrats everyone and thanks for sharing!
Just signed up for UW and I'm sick & giddy all at once. I'm taking it June 21 like some of the other posters and the goal is the Taus method.
Just signed up for UW and I'm sick & giddy all at once. I'm taking it June 21 like some of the other posters and the goal is the Taus method.
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the free sample questions the test writers provide on their website
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thanks!
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Here it goes: I havent taken the exam yet, but soon: April 12th (I may take it earlier)--
A little about me as a student: I attend Saint George's Univ in the Caribbean, 4.0 gpa
NBME Comp in December: 227
Started studying in Mid January:
--this is exactly what I did:
1. Cut the binding from my first Aid
2. Made my schedule which consisted of three passes thru everything (Modified Taus method)
--Sources I used: FA, First Aid, RR Goljan w/ Audio, BRS phys, Road Map Histo, High Yield Neuro, High yield anatomy, Clinical micro made ridiculously simple, Kaplan for Biochem, class notes for most of pharm, but Kaplan for select pharm chapters, class notes for some of path
First Run: No memorization, just writing, reading, doing
1. I Divided the First Aid where I was doing about 55-60 pages of First Aid per week: so I would put a long chapter together with a short chapter, or three short chapters in a week. I did the subject specific chapters first, then the organ specific chapters
2. Most important: I did all of USMLE world in my first run thru. I thought this was the most productive and highest yield component of my studying! This also left me enough time to do my missed/marked questions during my second or third run. I did every question as I as going thru the subject I was studying. In addition, I wrote most explanations in a notebook which helped immensely (I never had time to read this notebook, but I think writing it helped)
3. I started with my weaknesses (Micro, Behavioral and Biochem) and then tackled the rest
3 weeks into studying: NBME 3: 247 (I expected this increase because I covered the topics in which I was lacking)
5. Completed my first run using all the sources above within 7 weeks. I basically wrote the important stuff from my sources in my first aid excluding goljan. I didnt use first Aid Path sections and just read the goljan for Path
Note: I didnt study any of anatomy in my first run. I decided I would read the high yield anatomy book towards the end of studying because I didnt want to look at anatomy more than once. I also reasoned that the high yield anatomy book is full of Path, so I can get a review of both when I read it later. This however, meant that I was still missing plenty of questions in Anatomy. I also skipped learning heart sounds (I learned the theory, but have yet to study the actual sounds--someone mentioned a great iphone/itouch program called iMurmur which I plan on using to learn these for the exam)
UWSA1 after first run: 256, Uworld %: ~75%
Second Run: took me ~2 1/2 weeks
--I did all the DIT videos and read some chapters of Goljan again.
--DIT really drained me for the day, so this was essentially all I did and took most nights off
--Redid a lot of missed/marked questions
--Did some kaplan qbank questions which really suck (behavioral ones are pretty good though)
After 2nd run--NBME 6: 260
Last stretch:
I decided to read high yield anatomy and browse thru some sections of the netter atlas. Ive been actively memorizing first aid.
Yday: Free 150: 98%--only missed 3 questions! --came out to 276 on medfriends
Today: UWSA2: 265/800+; It maxes out at 265
So...yeah I think Im ready for the exam. I however, did not go thru everything 3 times, that would have been overkill--I just kept doing questions to know what my weaknesses are, and worked on them. I scrapped the Taus method after the first run.
I was originally scheduled for April 12th but I may go over first aid within 10 days, read some notes, learn the murmurs and take the exam. Another thing that helped me was studying with a partner. We would do our own thing but occasionally we'd bump ideas off each other.
I just wanted to share my studying experience, and hopefully I can achieve those scores on the real thing. I hope this helps--PM me if you have any questions regarding my studying!
A little about me as a student: I attend Saint George's Univ in the Caribbean, 4.0 gpa
NBME Comp in December: 227
Started studying in Mid January:
--this is exactly what I did:
1. Cut the binding from my first Aid
2. Made my schedule which consisted of three passes thru everything (Modified Taus method)
--Sources I used: FA, First Aid, RR Goljan w/ Audio, BRS phys, Road Map Histo, High Yield Neuro, High yield anatomy, Clinical micro made ridiculously simple, Kaplan for Biochem, class notes for most of pharm, but Kaplan for select pharm chapters, class notes for some of path
First Run: No memorization, just writing, reading, doing
1. I Divided the First Aid where I was doing about 55-60 pages of First Aid per week: so I would put a long chapter together with a short chapter, or three short chapters in a week. I did the subject specific chapters first, then the organ specific chapters
2. Most important: I did all of USMLE world in my first run thru. I thought this was the most productive and highest yield component of my studying! This also left me enough time to do my missed/marked questions during my second or third run. I did every question as I as going thru the subject I was studying. In addition, I wrote most explanations in a notebook which helped immensely (I never had time to read this notebook, but I think writing it helped)
3. I started with my weaknesses (Micro, Behavioral and Biochem) and then tackled the rest
3 weeks into studying: NBME 3: 247 (I expected this increase because I covered the topics in which I was lacking)
5. Completed my first run using all the sources above within 7 weeks. I basically wrote the important stuff from my sources in my first aid excluding goljan. I didnt use first Aid Path sections and just read the goljan for Path
Note: I didnt study any of anatomy in my first run. I decided I would read the high yield anatomy book towards the end of studying because I didnt want to look at anatomy more than once. I also reasoned that the high yield anatomy book is full of Path, so I can get a review of both when I read it later. This however, meant that I was still missing plenty of questions in Anatomy. I also skipped learning heart sounds (I learned the theory, but have yet to study the actual sounds--someone mentioned a great iphone/itouch program called iMurmur which I plan on using to learn these for the exam)
UWSA1 after first run: 256, Uworld %: ~75%
Second Run: took me ~2 1/2 weeks
--I did all the DIT videos and read some chapters of Goljan again.
--DIT really drained me for the day, so this was essentially all I did and took most nights off
--Redid a lot of missed/marked questions
--Did some kaplan qbank questions which really suck (behavioral ones are pretty good though)
After 2nd run--NBME 6: 260
Last stretch:
I decided to read high yield anatomy and browse thru some sections of the netter atlas. Ive been actively memorizing first aid.
Yday: Free 150: 98%--only missed 3 questions! --came out to 276 on medfriends
Today: UWSA2: 265/800+; It maxes out at 265
So...yeah I think Im ready for the exam. I however, did not go thru everything 3 times, that would have been overkill--I just kept doing questions to know what my weaknesses are, and worked on them. I scrapped the Taus method after the first run.
I was originally scheduled for April 12th but I may go over first aid within 10 days, read some notes, learn the murmurs and take the exam. Another thing that helped me was studying with a partner. We would do our own thing but occasionally we'd bump ideas off each other.
I just wanted to share my studying experience, and hopefully I can achieve those scores on the real thing. I hope this helps--PM me if you have any questions regarding my studying!
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O...M...G! Very impressive. With all the hard work you put in, I hope you hit your goal! Btw, what did you think of HY Gross Anatomy?
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Thanks for the support. I have to give some credit to my school, they did a stellar job with some of the really high yield subjects for the exam including path, phys, and pharm. Of course everyone has their opinions on that, but thats my 2 cents.
High yield gross anatomy was a quicker read than I thought it would be. I was able to clear it within a day. Overall, anatomy just doesnt seem to be high yield relative to the large amount of subject matter that you can cover. What I did was just go thru the book and write out things I thought were important on a few sheets of paper. I plan on going over these again at some point before the exam. I think the images of Xray, CTs and angiograms are excellent but it is lacking in some areas such as head and neck. In other areas its just too much, its really a judgment call. After reading the book thru, I still missed a couple anatomy questions on the UWSA2. Ill probably watch a youtube video on CXR interpretation because I hear nearly everyone gets a question on it. My buddy just told me he had a lateral CXR on his exam, and I have no idea what that even looks like.
High yield gross anatomy was a quicker read than I thought it would be. I was able to clear it within a day. Overall, anatomy just doesnt seem to be high yield relative to the large amount of subject matter that you can cover. What I did was just go thru the book and write out things I thought were important on a few sheets of paper. I plan on going over these again at some point before the exam. I think the images of Xray, CTs and angiograms are excellent but it is lacking in some areas such as head and neck. In other areas its just too much, its really a judgment call. After reading the book thru, I still missed a couple anatomy questions on the UWSA2. Ill probably watch a youtube video on CXR interpretation because I hear nearly everyone gets a question on it. My buddy just told me he had a lateral CXR on his exam, and I have no idea what that even looks like.
Ok slightly off topic but I took my exam on March 17th (Wednesday). Should I expect my scores on April 7th (3 Wednesdays after) or April 14th (4 Wednesdays after)? The wait is killing me....
