USMLE Official 2017 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

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WeedForLunch

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I know this is quite early but most American Students have finished giving the test for this year.
I am an IMG and have been prepping for the steps since quite some time and have seen Phloston, Transposony's and others' threads for their respective years and how helpful they have been.

I intend on giving step in Jan.. let's share timetables, plans and other stuff on how everyone intends on taking on this beast.

P.S. : I think it is not that early.. the 2015/2016 threads were started in September/October.. but in true SDN gunner style..i wanna start it in August.. :)

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I am just hoping that knowing ufap will get us anywhere around 230+ regardless of the form we will get on the real deal, regardless of the hardness/easiness of the form, just knowing that much facts well will get us there. There is no very much different concepts I think uworld covers them all, and even if there is additional concepts and they are tested - they are not that much important. Just know ufap well, but the hell even that is radicuolously hard to know ufap well. I think that program directors are aware of the usmle curves and new changes. For example average step 1 score in internal medicine is +- 230 and for surgery it is 239. The more we get nervous about the scores, more anxious we get, less memory and facts we retain. We just need to remember that average is 230. Of course if you want to get in to the ivy league programs go there, but it is only 10 programs maybe and there is thousands of other free places. I think that if we decrease the range of score with which we will be happy, we will score higher, when I was shooting for 250 I was more anxious, but now I know that 235 will open surgical doors, anyway I will work hard in 250 workload, but I am no more anxious, I know that 235 is enough. I think anxiety and low quality sleep has more detrimental effect than remembering 100 more factoids, you just can't recall them with 110 heart rate and breathing so deep and frequently like you have damn big embolus in your pulm artery. Just decrease your range of scores, and remember that average is way much lower than 250. Work hard for 250, but don't be anxious. I am going to start jogging again (which I was not doing in case not to waste the time).
 
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I'm not sure what you mean by having time to review but I almost ran out of time each block and rushed through a good number of questions. I only had all this time to think about it days after the exam. As long as you answered all the questions I wouldn't feel bad about rushing or almost running out of time. I think that's normal. Also I know a handful of questions feels like a lot but when you are taking a huge almost 300 question exam it only comes down to maybe 1% at most. I hope it's not freaking you out too bad.
Thankyou i think its bc i get the score in 48 hours, my anxiety is on the roof lol. I keep saying im going to get distracted and i just start thinking about it again
 
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Thankyou i think its bc i get the score in 48 hours, my anxiety is on the roof lol. I keep saying im going to get distracted and i just start thinking about it again

Keep hanging in there. You already made it through almost three weeks you can do it for a few more days.
 
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I am just hoping that knowing ufap will get us anywhere around 230+ regardless of the form we will get on the real deal, regardless of the hardness/easiness of the form, just knowing that much facts well will get us there. There is no very much different concepts I think uworld covers them all, and even if there is additional concepts and they are tested - they are not that much important. Just know ufap well, but the hell even that is radicuolously hard to know ufap well. I think that program directors are aware of the usmle curves and new changes. For example average step 1 score in internal medicine is +- 230 and for surgery it is 239. The more we get nervous about the scores, more anxious we get, less memory and facts we retain. We just need to remember that average is 230. Of course if you want to get in to the ivy league programs go there, but it is only 10 programs maybe and there is thousands of other free places. I think that if we decrease the range of score with which we will be happy, we will score higher, when I was shooting for 250 I was more anxious, but now I know that 235 will open surgical doors, anyway I will work hard in 250 workload, but I am no more anxious, I know that 235 is enough. I think anxiety and low quality sleep has more detrimental effect than remembering 100 more factoids, you just can't recall them with 110 heart rate and breathing so deep and frequently like you have damn big embolus in your pulm artery. Just decrease your range of scores, and remember that average is way much lower than 250. Work hard for 250, but don't be anxious. I am going to start jogging again (which I was not doing in case not to waste the time).
Yeah people keep telling me to stop focusing that much in the score but its hard when plastic surgery you need 230+
 


I totally understand what you feel. I took the exam a week ago and can't stop freaking out :p

I was cleaning my CLOSET today and found some random notes, started reading and realised I made ANOTHER mistake.
I JUST CAN'T ESCAPE THS ****;p
You mentioned you were able to recall many questions, didn't you?
You will do well. Fingers crossed!
 
I totally understand what you feel. I took the exam a week ago and can't stop freaking out :p

I was cleaning my CLOSET today and found some random notes, started reading and realised I made ANOTHER mistake.
I JUST CAN'T ESCAPE THS ****;p
You mentioned you were able to recall many questions, didn't you?
You will do well. Fingers crossed!

Lmao you did fine! But that's still funny that you incidentally stumbled on some notes relating to a topic on your step


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One thing I keep telling myself is it's so hard to remember these questions even a day after the fact let alone weeks later. Some questions I know 100% I got wrong, but alot of them you can never really be sure when you don't have the question right in front of you. There could be one word in the question you forgot that could easily change what you now think is the right or wrong answer.

But I do wake up every morning thinking of a new thing I may have gotten wrong and it's crazy stressful.
 
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I know this is a beat to death question asked to recent examiners but I feel like this exam changes so much that it may be useful to ask.... is UW really the silver bullet? Can recent examinees comment, please?


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I know this is a beat to death question asked to recent examiners but I feel like this exam changes so much that it may be useful to ask.... is UW really the silver bullet? Can recent examinees comment, please?


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I don't have a score yet but imo yes, 100%. UW will give you the instincts you need to answer these questions which is key. I feel you have to think alot and use judgement. UW is perfect practice to understand how questions are asked and what they are looking for. Especially make sure you do UWSA specially form 2.
 
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I know this is a beat to death question asked to recent examiners but I feel like this exam changes so much that it may be useful to ask.... is UW really the silver bullet? Can recent examinees comment, please?


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Yes, UWorld's explanations give the kind of details and insights and way of thinking you need for step. I won't say UWorld is just like step (some of my blocks seemed similar, others not), but UWorld teaches you how you need to think for step.
 
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Welp after doing really well on NBME 19 (257) and the CBSE (260+), dropped down to a 242 on NBME 18. Not complaining because it's still a solid score and I'm a couple of weeks out from the exam but curious if anybody had a similar experience? Looks like I got destroyed in cell bio/histo and MSK which I'm usually decent at but for some reason just did terrible on this exam. Thanks for any advice you all can provide
 
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Welp after doing really well on NBME 19 (257) and the CBSE (260+), dropped down to a 242 on NBME 18. Not complaining because it's still a solid score and I'm a couple of weeks out from the exam but curious if anybody had a similar experience? Looks like I got destroyed in cell bio/histo and MSK which I'm usually decent at but for some reason just did terrible on this exam. Thanks for any advice you all can provide

I did well on CBSE (258), UWSA1 (269) and UWSA2 (256) then dropped to 244 on NBME 16. Got back up to 252 on NBME17. I think luck is definitely a big factor on these tests. Taking mine in a week and a half.
 
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I know this is a beat to death question asked to recent examiners but I feel like this exam changes so much that it may be useful to ask.... is UW really the silver bullet? Can recent examinees comment, please?


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I felt that my exam wasnt like a lot of people say that "oh wow, its 100% uworld!!" But i would say of all of them it was the most helpful, mine was nothing like nbmes literally. I did found it similar to uworld assesment 2 like the style and long questions
 
I did well on CBSE (258), UWSA1 (269) and UWSA2 (256) then dropped to 244 on NBME 16. Got back up to 252 on NBME17. I think luck is definitely a big factor on these tests. Taking mine in a week and a half.
Hmm so i see the linear order of taking the NBMEs are not followed, is there really a big change btw those
?
 
Taking my exam in a week...I feel like after a few days I sometimes forget everything...it's so frustrating. For ex: Today I reviewed - Respiratory, Psych, Micro, Renal, ANS pharm (keep in mind I just reviewed these things like a week or so ago...), now I look at this stuff and think omfg i forgot that detail or oh wow I forgot these O2 and CO2 measurements. Idk if it's the stress or what.

I'm pretty sure all of you are much smarter than me so no one else feels like this so I feel dumb..
 
Taking my exam in a week...I feel like after a few days I sometimes forget everything...it's so frustrating. For ex: Today I reviewed - Respiratory, Psych, Micro, Renal, ANS pharm (keep in mind I just reviewed these things like a week or so ago...), now I look at this stuff and think omfg i forgot that detail or oh wow I forgot these O2 and CO2 measurements. Idk if it's the stress or what.

I'm pretty sure all of you are much smarter than me so no one else feels like this so I feel dumb..
Do you use Anki? It's very hard to forget things when you're constantly being asked about it.
 
Taking my exam in a week...I feel like after a few days I sometimes forget everything...it's so frustrating. For ex: Today I reviewed - Respiratory, Psych, Micro, Renal, ANS pharm (keep in mind I just reviewed these things like a week or so ago...), now I look at this stuff and think omfg i forgot that detail or oh wow I forgot these O2 and CO2 measurements. Idk if it's the stress or what.

I'm pretty sure all of you are much smarter than me so no one else feels like this so I feel dumb..

I felt the same way the week before. I think it's pretty normal. As long as your nbmes are where you want them to be I would try not to worry about it. I didn't feel it was a problem at all during the exam even though I was freaking out about tons of little things I was forgetting days before. Also you'd be surprised how many things you'll remember just from reading a question and seeing the options. It's much harder to think of things off the top of your head or just going through FA. The exam is ALOT more about experience with questions then random recall imo

One thing I wish I would change with regards to that is I wish I had been more chill the day before the exam and not stressing and tiring myself out flipping through FA like a maniac lol. Best of luck!
 
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So what's the general consensus on NBME 18? I took it this weekend and scored about the same as I did on my CBSE for baseline...two weeks ago. I got pretty demoralized over the whole thing. I test in 2.5 weeks and I'm ramping up UWorld. Not sure what else to do.
 
I am just hoping that knowing ufap will get us anywhere around 230+ regardless of the form we will get on the real deal, regardless of the hardness/easiness of the form, just knowing that much facts well will get us there. There is no very much different concepts I think uworld covers them all, and even if there is additional concepts and they are tested - they are not that much important. Just know ufap well, but the hell even that is radicuolously hard to know ufap well. I think that program directors are aware of the usmle curves and new changes. For example average step 1 score in internal medicine is +- 230 and for surgery it is 239. The more we get nervous about the scores, more anxious we get, less memory and facts we retain. We just need to remember that average is 230. Of course if you want to get in to the ivy league programs go there, but it is only 10 programs maybe and there is thousands of other free places. I think that if we decrease the range of score with which we will be happy, we will score higher, when I was shooting for 250 I was more anxious, but now I know that 235 will open surgical doors, anyway I will work hard in 250 workload, but I am no more anxious, I know that 235 is enough. I think anxiety and low quality sleep has more detrimental effect than remembering 100 more factoids, you just can't recall them with 110 heart rate and breathing so deep and frequently like you have damn big embolus in your pulm artery. Just decrease your range of scores, and remember that average is way much lower than 250. Work hard for 250, but don't be anxious. I am going to start jogging again (which I was not doing in case not to waste the time).
The very same thought processes helped me sleep like a baby day before my step 1 exam. I stopped worrying and was like who cares
 
Hello ALL, long time lurker.... Need some advice.. Ive done uworld once and made notes on all the questions that i did during my first run.... it was 60% overall. Now im doing it again and and after five blocks my average is around 66%... the problem here is I feel i should be getting more as it is my 2nd run... should i review my notes and then attempt the uworld blocks or just keep doing what im doing..... when i see a q i sometimes know that ive done it before but ive mostly forget the concepts half of the time... kind of confused as i expect the average to be rising much more than it really is but i feel that if i review the notes ill be cheating in a weird sort of way. please feel free to voice your opinion. Thank u
 
Hello ALL, long time lurker.... Need some advice.. Ive done uworld once and made notes on all the questions that i did during my first run.... it was 60% overall. Now im doing it again and and after five blocks my average is around 66%... the problem here is I feel i should be getting more as it is my 2nd run... should i review my notes and then attempt the uworld blocks or just keep doing what im doing..... when i see a q i sometimes know that ive done it before but ive mostly forget the concepts half of the time... kind of confused as i expect the average to be rising much more than it really is but i feel that if i review the notes ill be cheating in a weird sort of way. please feel free to voice your opinion. Thank u
You are right, your average should be in the 80s- low 90s your second time through UWORLD. During your second pass you should be able to look at each answer choice and explain to yourself why that answer is the wrong answer concerning this question. No offense, but you are doing something wrong if you are in avging in the 60s the second time around. Either you are not truly understanding the information or you don't know how to effectively tackle the question.
Review your UWORLD notes every couple days to stay current with them. Also, figure out what your weak areas are and tackle those first.
 
So what's the general consensus on NBME 18? I took it this weekend and scored about the same as I did on my CBSE for baseline...two weeks ago. I got pretty demoralized over the whole thing. I test in 2.5 weeks and I'm ramping up UWorld. Not sure what else to do.

I took NBME 18 two days out and it under predicted my score by 12 points for me.
 
You are right, your average should be in the 80s- low 90s your second time through UWORLD. During your second pass you should be able to look at each answer choice and explain to yourself why that answer is the wrong answer concerning this question. No offense, but you are doing something wrong if you are in avging in the 60s the second time around. Either you are not truly understanding the information or you don't know how to effectively tackle the question.
Review your UWORLD notes every couple days to stay current with them. Also, figure out what your weak areas are and tackle those first.

You definitely need to take baseline into consideration to try and judge what a second pass score should be. I think alot of people who get high 80s and 90s second pass around start off with a solid 70 or mid 70.

admisam33 have you tried doing all your wrong Qs random timed? That helped me. Also keep reviewing FA and do pathoma if you haven't done that already. As always too stick with nbmes to judge where you're at. I know everyone says uworld is a learning too and it's hard not to judge yourself with it but it really isn't that great of an assessment especially only a handful of blocks.
 
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You definitely need to take baseline into consideration to try and judge what a second pass score should be. I think alot of people who get high 80s and 90s second pass around start off with a solid 70 or mid 70.

admisam33 have you tried doing all your wrong Qs random timed? That helped me. Also keep reviewing FA and do pathoma if you haven't done that already. As always too stick with nbmes to judge where you're at. I know everyone says uworld is a learning too and it's hard not to judge yourself with it but it really isn't that great of an assessment especially only a handful of blocks.


Base line next week. Will start from NBME 13 ONLINE and work myself upwards. Exam in mid JULY. Have given a few offline NBMEs but they arent that relevant Got 45-50 wrong in each of the 3 I gave (1-3). My 1st run was tutor and have been doing timed random since a week (2nd run) avg in the random is 66% around 6 blocks done so far. Ive done Pathoma once and am on my second run through FA and sketchy... But i feel its more about forgetting the stuff i already know than concepts..... I really need to improve this aspect of my preparation. Any help will be awesome.
 
You are right, your average should be in the 80s- low 90s your second time through UWORLD. During your second pass you should be able to look at each answer choice and explain to yourself why that answer is the wrong answer concerning this question. No offense, but you are doing something wrong if you are in avging in the 60s the second time around. Either you are not truly understanding the information or you don't know how to effectively tackle the question.
Review your UWORLD notes every couple days to stay current with them. Also, figure out what your weak areas are and tackle those first.


Thats my plan.... Going to review all my Uworld notes before i give my dedicated baseline next week.
 
Guys I'm having a really hard time getting through UW... I'm just getting so freakin bored of it! I have like 1400 left and I'm really annoyed I can't just sit down and do it! Any suggestions people?


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Guys I'm having a really hard time getting through UW... I'm just getting so freakin bored of it! I have like 1400 left and I'm really annoyed I can't just sit down and do it! Any suggestions people?


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Mixing it up with FA review helped me. Whenever I got bored or overwhelmed with one I switched to the other. Are you annotating FA with UW and all that too?
 
Guys I'm having a really hard time getting through UW... I'm just getting so freakin bored of it! I have like 1400 left and I'm really annoyed I can't just sit down and do it! Any suggestions people?


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I'm feeling that exact sentiment... Here's a pump up video someone posted elsewhere:
 
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Hey if you dont mind me asking what were your nbme scores vs real deal.
sorry if you have posted before

Sure, I posted it a few times on here already but here you go:

NBME 15: 205 (2 months out)
NBME 16: 225 (3/5/17)
NBME 17: 223 (3/17/17)
UWSA1: 249 (3 days out)
NBME 18: 221 (2 days out)
Free 150: 77% (1 day before exam- I was stressed and tired, this % freaked me out but whatever right?)
Step 1: 233 3/27/17(wasn't expecting this score so I was super happy)
 
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Sure, I posted it a few times on here already but here you go:

NBME 15: 205 (2 months out)
NBME 16: 225 (3/5/17)
NBME 17: 223 (3/17/17)
UWSA1: 249 (3 days out)
NBME 18: 221 (2 days out)
Free 150: 77% (1 day before exam- I was stressed and tired, this % freaked me out but whatever right?)
Step 1: 233 3/27/17(wasn't expecting this score so I was super happy)

Congrats on the score!
 
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Considering all this I think it will make sense to do Kaplan only after mastering ufap, when I say mastering I meen really mastering, knowing all the concepts from the uworld even it will take 3 runs through uworld (which I am doing, now on 2nd run and scoring 78% right with 40% of bank done). So I will do it 3rd time to be sure that I know +- all the high yield concepts. After this I will think go or not to go with kaplan. Anyway kaplan will take one month, so If after mastering ufap + all the nbme + free 150's from all the years, if after all this I will have time I think it will be efficient to go with kaplan. Anyway people still say that mastered ufap can break 250 if you get adequate form. I mentioned that mastered ufap get you to 250 in nbme 18, and nbme 18 250 score can break 250 in real deal. Hope to get close to 240, will be extremely happy. I don't know this vogueness came up now or it was frequent thing earlier ...

You think its better to do UW 3x than Kaplan & UW 2x?
 
You definitely need to take baseline into consideration to try and judge what a second pass score should be. I think alot of people who get high 80s and 90s second pass around start off with a solid 70 or mid 70.

admisam33 have you tried doing all your wrong Qs random timed? That helped me. Also keep reviewing FA and do pathoma if you haven't done that already. As always too stick with nbmes to judge where you're at. I know everyone says uworld is a learning too and it's hard not to judge yourself with it but it really isn't that great of an assessment especially only a handful of blocks.
my first run was 71% now im getting mid 80s to 90s but like everyone is saying first run is more important to asses you weakness, second run is did you learn from you mistakes
 
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I'm in an odd place, and I need a little advice on if I'm on the right track. I am at the start of week 6 of my (slightly under) 7 week study plan, and here's where I stand on the scores:

Uworld 1st pass, 70% done: 72%. I reset this at the start of dedicated, so my second pass is not really a second pass because about a 3rd of the questions per block are new.

Uworld 2nd pass, 80% done: 83%

UWSA1 (first day of dedicated): 245

UWSA2 (end week 1): 239

NBME 13 (end week 2): 230

NBME 15 (end week 3): 236

NBME 16 (end week 4): 236

NBME 17 (end week 5, ie two days ago): 252

Is that 252 a joke, or should I consider that decently close to reality? I've heard mixed comments about NBME 17 and want to hear what the latest thoughts are about it. I busted my balls last week and did upwards of 1500 anki cards a day, so perhaps that helped? I'm planning to take 18 before the real deal, maybe 19 as well.
 
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I'm in an odd place, and I need a little advice on if I'm on the right track. I am at the start of week 6 of my (slightly under) 7 week study plan, and here's where I stand on the scores:

Uworld 1st pass, 70% done: 72%. I reset this at the start of dedicated, so my second pass is not really a second pass because about a 3rd of the questions per block are new.

Uworld 2nd pass, 80% done: 83%

UWSA1 (first day of dedicated): 245

UWSA2 (end week 1): 239

NBME 13 (end week 2): 230

NBME 15 (end week 3): 236

NBME 16 (end week 4): 236

NBME 17 (end week 5, ie two days ago): 252

Is that 252 a joke, or should I consider that decently close to reality? I've heard mixed comments about NBME 17 and want to hear what the latest thoughts are about it. I busted my balls last week and did upwards of 1500 anki cards a day, so perhaps that helped? I'm planning to take 18 before the real deal, maybe 19 as well.


Those are all solid scores obviously so great job but it's impossible to tell if a jump in scores is really a jump until you take more assessments. It's always an outlier until you have at least 2 or 3 scores about the same under your belt.
 
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Hi,i was reading your step 1 experience,it's really awesome that you scored 233...CONGRATULATIONS!!!
NEED ADVICE PLEASE.
Here's my story.....

i've been preparing for step 1 quite longtime
Old Graduate:YOG:2011
STARTED STEP 1 PREP in MARCH-2014
nbme 13-205(2015)
nbme 17-218(2016)
nbme 18-225(2017 march)

(Gave all these nbmes,without a proper plan,when i was frustrated and wanted to know where i'm i standing in this journey)

i've done everything multliple times in all these years kaplan,uworld,beckers,brs physio,pathoma,goljan,el hussieny,FA 2014/2016.... BUT was inconsistent with my prep.

i'm tired with all this...i don't know what i should do...i really wanna study for 20 days with complete focus which never happened in this journey ,due to my illness(hint: DIG FAST,just don't feel saying it openly)...i truly believe will ace the test if i'll be focused for 20 days...i need 245+ in main exam.

Thank you.
233!!!!! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THAT'S POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My best NBME was a 225!!!! I thought I failed I made so many stupid mistakes!!! THANK YOU GOD THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Anything is possible!! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
 
Did someone receive there scores? I thought I was receiving it today... I haven't slept at all and didn't receive anything :/ I thought it was today since I took it April 7. Wow... :(
 
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Did someone receive there scores? I thought I was receiving it today... I haven't slept at all and didn't receive anything :/ I thought it was today since I took it April 7. Wow... :(

I don't think they've been released yet? I'm fairly certain that I'm getting my scores today, but I've yet to hear back as well. It's super early, though, so I figured that it might just come out later in the morning.
 
I don't think they've been released yet? I'm fairly certain that I'm getting my scores today, but I've yet to hear back as well. It's super early, though, so I figured that it might just come out later in the morning.
My friend last week got it at 831am and another at 830am thats why i thought i wasn't getting it but maybe its different times depending where we are from, thanks for letting me know, im going to keep refreshing, haven't slept all night hahahaha good luck hope u get what u wanted/needed!!!
 
My friend last week got it at 831am and another at 830am thats why i thought i wasn't getting it but maybe its different times depending where we are from, thanks for letting me know, im going to keep refreshing, haven't slept all night hahahaha good luck hope u get what u wanted/needed!!!

Yeah - I'm on the west coast, so not sure if that affects timing of release in any way either. :shrug: Best of luck to you as well!
 
when you go in oasis, does it say at least exam date u took it or something or just all in blank?

Not familiar with oasis, sorry! On the nbme website my permit is gone and clicking on order records opens a page where I can make a new order, if that helps at all. Those are both changes within the last week.
 
Not familiar with oasis, sorry! On the nbme website my permit is gone and clicking on order records opens a page where I can make a new order, if that helps at all. Those are both changes within the last week.
Ohh ur from US sorry, im IMG so mine is in ECFMG thats why hehe, i receive it by OASIS in ecfmg website :)
 
Ohh ur from US sorry, im IMG so mine is in ECFMG thats why hehe, i receive it by OASIS in ecfmg website :)
The scores are usually released after 10.30 Eastern time. So, there is still some time to go. Good luck to all those who are getting the results today!
 
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