USMLE Official 2017 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[WeedForLunch]

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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[Dr.Jekyll75]

Just took it

Will share score when it comes out. I didn't have a survey at the end. I just had a screen saying I was done but that doesn't guarantee I finished all sections (I answered every question, so I guess that's just a standardized message). Goal score is 250. I can live with anything 230+.

Practice Scores
U World Average 71% timed random while I was doing organ systems. One week after finishing organ systems, I did last 16 blocks and averaged 75%.

(All taken before studying)
CBSA 190
NBME 13 180
UWSA 180

(2 weeks into hardcore studying)
UWSA 236

(Taken while going through organ systems)
NBME 15 236
NBME 16 232
NBME 17 222
NBME 18 236

(After reviewing all organ systems)
NBME 19 244
Free 117 85%

What I did
Study time: 10 weeks about 8-10 hours a day (took some time out of school's normal curriculum to begin early and lowered my grades a bit for the last module)
U World 1.5X (I did my incorrects and marks after my first run through on tutor mood)
First Aid 2X
Pathoma 2X
Goljan 1X
DIT (About 70% and coupled it with first aid, since I lack the discipline to sit there and read)
Kaplan 70% completion (mostly done through med school)
USMLE RX 70% completion (along with First Aid and DIT to hammer first aid)

Test Experience
Some blocks were easy and felt like NBME 18 and 19. Some blocks were about the difficulty level of U World. It felt like recall questions with weird organisms or drugs as the correct answer were all purposely designed so that someone who knew all the high yield information could effectively eliminate all of the other choices. The most difficult questions had to do with pathogenesis. It was a lot of "can you figure out the most reasonable explanation/mechanism for this common medical phenomena." The physiology was easier than both Kaplan and U World. The pathophysiology was on the same level. I'm generally a good standardized test taker and fast reader, so, when practicing, timing was never an issue. On the actual exam, the easy blocks took me about 40-50 minutes and left me a good amount of time for double checking. However, I needed almost all the time just to get through the tougher blocks. The people at my test center were super slow at signing people in after breaks. I lost a bit of time on my last block. I still managed to finished, but it wasn't a good feeling to see those red digits wind down as I frantically clicked the bubble for my last answer.

I definitely made some really dumb mistakes here and there, especially in the later blocks. Test fatigue is very real. I practiced taking 8 blocks a day on more than a few occasions. However, the pressure and multistep questions on the real deal really do wear you down. By the last three blocks, I started to be less thorough with my reading of questions. But I'm not really going to beat myself up over this because I think test fatigue affects almost everyone and almost everyone makes a few dumb errors they wouldn't normally make due to it.

How I would study differently?
Specifically for STEP 1, I wouldn't study differently at all. I can distinctly remember questions on my exam that I only knew because of a combination of one or two of the resources listed above.

How I would study differently in med school to be in a better position at the beginning of my dedicated study period?
READ more. The exam tests if you know the mechanisms behind disease. All of the rote facts can be readily memorized in a few weeks. It's hard to gain a good background in pathology in that time period. Reading Robbins during your actual coursework is golden. If you had lecture based exams that asked nit picky details off of slides like at my school, time spent reading might take away a bit from grades on exams. However, I think sacrificing your grades a bit to read the right resources more is worth it for two reasons: #1 you gain a broader background and framework to actually understand medicine as a system rather than an assortment of disjointed facts #2 It helps a lot come boards study time, when you start with a strong base of understanding the "why" and the "how" rather than just the "what" of processes.

your experiance vibes with my friends alot of random names were the answer to his questions. I think this is now done more commonly because theres not as many tricks up their sleeves so they can only test you on the idea of do you know what you know ?

 

[KnightofBaldMt]

ive read first aid one if that helps, and im going back through now to work on my weaker subjects. Plus im throwing in bro deck for active recall. My biggest issue is my short term memory. I easily forget stuff. So ill do 1-2 sections a day, the next day new section, but during the later half of the day or while on breaks i go through the bro deck. Most of my issues or in path. Physeo has helped me alot in in physiology so i dont review it as much

That's one of the first things, positive or negative, I've heard about Physeo. How long did it take you? You liked it, I assume?

 

[maryjane25]

Hey everyone-
I am a longtime follower, but have never actually made a post. Hoping my experience might help someone else who may be having a similar experience to me. I will admit I did not study at all for this exam during MS1 or MS2 years (like an idiot), so if you are still in your first 2 years start studying NOW - trust me it will save you a ton of stress and sleepless nights in the future. I somehow convinced myself that being at a really good medical school and being an A- student would get me the foundation I needed, and I could not have been more wrong or unprepared when I entered my intensive study period. I worked my butt off for 10 weeks studying for this exam and delayed twice because I just kept psyching myself out reading threads about people who were scoring 50+ points higher than I was on practice exams. I am not at all faulting those students (CONGRATS to anyone who can do that well on Step 1 - you are a rockstar) - BUT for the people who are scoring below the belt, I wanted to share my scores and experience now that I can officially say it is over! Step 1 is a beast that you unfortunately just have to tackle head on.

I used FA, pathoma, sketchy, and Uworld - my first pass through Uworld I had an average in the low 40's. My diagnostic which I took 12 weeks before the exam I scored in the 150s (safe to say I officially had a heart attack when I saw the score). I literally closed myself off from the world and even will admit I lost myself in studying for this exam. Starting scores like that will really make you question whether or not you actually are capable of ever becoming a doctor. I am not trying to sound ominous - I am just trying to be honest and share how I felt so that anyone who is having a similar experience can know they are not alone. Everyone struggles while trying to study for this exam and somehow we all get through it. Don't get so down on yourself that you start to question whether or not you are smart enough to get past it.

NBME12 - 148
NBME18 - 173
NBME16 - 182
NBME15 - 205
NBME17 - 194 (approached the point of mental breakdown when my score dropped)
NBME19 - 184 (stress/anxiety showing)
NBME18 - 200
Real deal - 216

If you don't feel confident going into the exam it WILL affect your score. I did way better than I ever could have hoped for and was ready to throw in the towel at one point during studying when I felt like passing was impossible. Just take studying one day at a time and trust that you know more than you think you do. I know 216 isn't a stellar score, but with the amount of stress I went through and where I started at, I am ECSTATIC with a 216.

Major point of my long post is to trust yourself. Take advice of other students who have gone through it, but don't get lost in comparing yourself. Set a realistic goal and just accept that you will have to work harder than you ever have before. But you will get through it, and you will make it past the hardest milestone of medical school
Good luck!!!

Hey everyone-
I am a longtime follower, but have never actually made a post. Hoping my experience might help someone else who may be having a similar experience to me. I will admit I did not study at all for this exam during MS1 or MS2 years (like an idiot), so if you are still in your first 2 years start studying NOW - trust me it will save you a ton of stress and sleepless nights in the future. I somehow convinced myself that being at a really good medical school and being an A- student would get me the foundation I needed, and I could not have been more wrong or unprepared when I entered my intensive study period. I worked my butt off for 10 weeks studying for this exam and delayed twice because I just kept psyching myself out reading threads about people who were scoring 50+ points higher than I was on practice exams. I am not at all faulting those students (CONGRATS to anyone who can do that well on Step 1 - you are a rockstar) - BUT for the people who are scoring below the belt, I wanted to share my scores and experience now that I can officially say it is over! Step 1 is a beast that you unfortunately just have to tackle head on.

I used FA, pathoma, sketchy, and Uworld - my first pass through Uworld I had an average in the low 40's. My diagnostic which I took 12 weeks before the exam I scored in the 150s (safe to say I officially had a heart attack when I saw the score). I literally closed myself off from the world and even will admit I lost myself in studying for this exam. Starting scores like that will really make you question whether or not you actually are capable of ever becoming a doctor. I am not trying to sound ominous - I am just trying to be honest and share how I felt so that anyone who is having a similar experience can know they are not alone. Everyone struggles while trying to study for this exam and somehow we all get through it. Don't get so down on yourself that you start to question whether or not you are smart enough to get past it.

NBME12 - 148
NBME18 - 173
NBME16 - 182
NBME15 - 205
NBME17 - 194 (approached the point of mental breakdown when my score dropped)
NBME19 - 184 (stress/anxiety showing)
NBME18 - 200
Real deal - 216

If you don't feel confident going into the exam it WILL affect your score. I did way better than I ever could have hoped for and was ready to throw in the towel at one point during studying when I felt like passing was impossible. Just take studying one day at a time and trust that you know more than you think you do. I know 216 isn't a stellar score, but with the amount of stress I went through and where I started at, I am ECSTATIC with a 216.

Major point of my long post is to trust yourself. Take advice of other students who have gone through it, but don't get lost in comparing yourself. Set a realistic goal and just accept that you will have to work harder than you ever have before. But you will get through it, and you will make it past the hardest milestone of medical school
Good luck!!!

Congratulations on being done, and exceeding your NBME scores! Do you mind sharing how long after NBME18 you took step 1?

 

[mymembernames]

Are the UWSA accurate as far as the grading is concerned? It seems like it over predicts from what I have been reading, is this true?

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Are the UWSA accurate as far as the grading is concerned? It seems like it over predicts from what I have been reading, is this true?

maybe the old curve but from what ive seen lately (since they went down to 40q per block) its been on par

EDIT: only seen 10 or so peoples correlation not on a mass scale

 

[quincyfuturemd]

maybe the old curve but from what ive seen lately (since they went down to 40q per block) its been on par

EDIT: only seen 10 or so peoples correlation not on a mass scale

This is what I've seen/heard too. As long as you write the updated USWA it seems to be even more accurate then nbmes for some people. This was true even years ago as far as I know. But only UWSA2, UWSA1 tends to over predict for most people that I know of.

 

[Theppunisher]

This is what I've seen/heard too. As long as you write the updated USWA it seems to be even more accurate then nbmes for some people. This was true even years ago as far as I know. But only UWSA2, UWSA1 tends to over predict for most people that I know of.

That is weird. I scored higher on UWSA 2 did better percent correct wise but found it the same in terms of difficulty so I wonder why 1 would over predict but not 2

 

[quincyfuturemd]

That is weird. I scored higher on UWSA 2 did better percent correct wise but found it the same in terms of difficulty so I wonder why 1 would over predict but not 2

I think it's hard to tell too because most people do UWSA1 before 2 and early on in their studying. Just going on what people say it seems to over predict and UWSA2 appears to be the more predictive one. Also I don't have a step score but I did UWSA1 early on and it gave me 249 and then I did nbme 12 soon after (when it was still online) and got a 225 lol. After that I never saw a 249 or higher ever again on any nbme or UWSA2.

 

[Theppunisher]

I think it's hard to tell too because most people do UWSA1 before 2 and early on in their studying. Just going on what people say it seems to over predict and UWSA2 appears to be the more predictive one. Also I don't have a step score but I did UWSA1 early on and it gave me 249 and then I did nbme 12 soon after (when it was still online) and got a 225 lol. After that I never saw a 249 or higher ever again on any nbme or UWSA2.

oh that still a great score.
i did the first uworld assesment early on and got in the high 250s and the second about a week ago and got in the low 260s.
my nbmes ranged from low 240s to 250s so I am hoping the second one is more predictive for more haha

 

[quincyfuturemd]

oh that still a great score.
i did the first uworld assesment early on and got in the high 250s and the second about a week ago and got in the low 260s.
my nbmes ranged from low 240s to 250s so I am hoping the second one is more predictive for more haha

Yeah for sure, I'm not mad about the scores, but UWSA1 definitively seemed to be way off for me and it's like that way for other people too from what I've heard.

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

Yeah for sure, I'm not mad about the scores, but UWSA1 definitively seemed to be way off for me and it's like that way for other people too from what I've heard.

SURVEY RESULTS: 2016 USMLE Step 1 Correlation Survey Results • r/step1

this is from last year, im not sure how accurate it is now but it may hold up

 

[Reperfused]

ive read first aid one if that helps, and im going back through now to work on my weaker subjects. Plus im throwing in bro deck for active recall. My biggest issue is my short term memory. I easily forget stuff. So ill do 1-2 sections a day, the next day new section, but during the later half of the day or while on breaks i go through the bro deck. Most of my issues or in path. Physeo has helped me alot in in physiology so i dont review it as much

What about UWorld? How much UWorld have you done?

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

What about UWorld? How much UWorld have you done?

i am on my second run right now, i did my first run during the school year. i finished at 71% . My last few block were in the 60s during our finals which kinda messed up my percentage but its ultimately a learning tool

 

[Griseofulvin93]

Just received my score: 236. Very happy and glad to have shared my journey with you. Later I'll post my nbme scores and my exam experience

 

[midav8]

Just have got the result.
UWorld first pass 79.5%
NBME 19 236 ( 6 days before exam)
FRED 120 89.% ( 3 days before)
Real exam. 250

 

[DrTacosMD]

12/23/16 NBME 12 - 215
2/4/17 NBME 13 - 219
3/17/17 NBME 15 - 236
4/15/17 NBME 16 - 248
4/23/17 NBME 18 - 250
5/2/17 NBME 19 - 236

So I have my exam scheduled for May 12....and I just took NBME 19 last night and dropped 14 points!!! And I checked my questions and missed roughly the same amount as the previous two exams (got 20 questions wrong on NBME 18 and 21 questions wrong on NBME 19). what is with the scaling?...I'm still keeping the test date though...I'd be fine with that score. Just feeling pretty annoyed at the drop.

 

[bakegyamon]

Just have got the result.
UWorld first pass 79.5%
NBME 19 236 ( 6 days before exam)
FRED 120 89.% ( 3 days before)
Real exam. 250

Wow.. congratulations!! You rock it!

Anw, would you like to tell us your experience in the Real Exam day? How do you feel after doing all the questions?

 

[quincyfuturemd]

So I have my exam scheduled for May 12....and I just took NBME 19 last night and dropped 14 points!!! And I checked my questions and missed roughly the same amount as the previous two exams (got 20 questions wrong on NBME 18 and 21 questions wrong on NBME 19). what is with the scaling?...I'm still keeping the test date though...I'd be fine with that score. Just feeling pretty annoyed at the drop.

Same. I went from mid 240s to 232 on nbme 19 while getting about the same number of questions wrong. I'd still be happy with that score too but nobody likes to drop 15 points in a day. It also hurts your confidence in these assessments. I'm hoping it's because it's just too new.

 

[maryjane25]

So I have my exam scheduled for May 12....and I just took NBME 19 last night and dropped 14 points!!! And I checked my questions and missed roughly the same amount as the previous two exams (got 20 questions wrong on NBME 18 and 21 questions wrong on NBME 19). what is with the scaling?...I'm still keeping the test date though...I'd be fine with that score. Just feeling pretty annoyed at the drop.

I dropped 20 points from my nbme 18 to nbme 19 and I took them one week apart. Took nbme 19 last week. Not sure what changed, because I have had the same number of questions wrong in previous nbme's but higher scores.. I'll still be going ahead and taking the test in 2 days. Huge blow to my confidence though.. praying for the best and doing a quick read/one round of FA.

 

[midav8]

Thank you very much. To be honest, I was expecting something between 240 and 250, but after disappointing result of NBME 19 would be glad to see anything higher than 235. My exam overall was roughly that I was expecting, unlike my step 2ck. I had overall 272 questions, the last block was only 32. The 3-rd one and the last one were extremely hard, I probably marked 40 % of questions on them. I clearly remember the last question of the last block. The clinical question written by some misanthropic guy . Was given a clinical scenario with 5 options of diagnosis, none of them were even close to be true. In the first half an hour after the exam I found out around a dozen mistakes I committed. Strongly recommend against doing that to anyone, just suppress your temptation.
Again, diagnostic forms failed to predict my result. My step 2 ck result was over predicted by UWSA by 16 points, here is under prediction by 14. Still I am glad I took this form. In the real exam I had a question almost identical to the one that I did wrong in NBME.
My preparation materials were FA, a must, Pathoma( to say it is an excellent resource means to say nothing). Kaplan video lectures and lecture notes. For the old IMG which I am it was also extremely helpful, especially biochemistry, genetics, pharm. I didn't like their pathology lectures though. I did Rx once ( didn't tell me much), Kaplan qbank once ( much of lower yield stuff, but the physiology and pathophysiology parts had some important concepts). UWorld did in the last two months twice. No need to mention the importance of that qbank. But one has to use it as a learning tool, not as a monitor of progress or something in that style.

 

[quincyfuturemd]

I dropped 20 points from my nbme 18 to nbme 19 and I took them one week apart. Took nbme 19 last week. Not sure what changed, because I have had the same number of questions wrong in previous nbme's but higher scores.. I'll still be going ahead and taking the test in 2 days. Huge blow to my confidence though.. praying for the best and doing a quick read/one round of FA.

If it's any consolation I took nbme 19 before 17 and 18 (I actually took 17 right after 19 on the same day even) and I went back up again so I think it really is something with 19 and not people dropping right before their test.

 

[sss2g2]

Thank you very much. To be honest, I was expecting something between 240 and 250, but after disappointing result of NBME 19 would be glad to see anything higher than 235. My exam overall was roughly that I was expecting, unlike my step 2ck. I had overall 272 questions, the last block was only 32. The 3-rd one and the last one were extremely hard, I probably marked 40 % of questions on them. I clearly remember the last question of the last block. The clinical question written by some misanthropic guy . Was given a clinical scenario with 5 options of diagnosis, none of them were even close to be true. In the first half an hour after the exam I found out around a dozen mistakes I committed. Strongly recommend against doing that to anyone, just suppress your temptation.
Again, diagnostic forms failed to predict my result. My step 2 ck result was over predicted by UWSA by 16 points, here is under prediction by 14. Still I am glad I took this form. In the real exam I had a question almost identical to the one that I did wrong in NBME.
My preparation materials were FA, a must, Pathoma( to say it is an excellent resource means to say nothing). Kaplan video lectures and lecture notes. For the old IMG which I am it was also extremely helpful, especially biochemistry, genetics, pharm. I didn't like their pathology lectures though. I did Rx once ( didn't tell me much), Kaplan qbank once ( much of lower yield stuff, but the physiology and pathophysiology parts had some important concepts). UWorld did in the last two months twice. No need to mention the importance of that qbank. But one has to use it as a learning tool, not as a monitor of progress or something in that style.

Wait you took CK before Step 1? How did you study for CK?

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Well, T-minus 2 hours until showtime. So weird to think that I'm about to take the exam that's been looming for 2 years.

 

[maryjane25]

If it's any consolation I took nbme 19 before 17 and 18 (I actually took 17 right after 19 on the same day even) and I went back up again so I think it really is something with 19 and not people dropping right before their test.

That's comforting to know! Majority of people taking 19 are saying similar things.. hopefully the actual exam will be more forgiving.

 

[maryjane25]

Well, T-minus 2 hours until showtime. So weird to think that I'm about to take the exam that's been looming for 2 years.

Bets of luck to you!

 

[Griseofulvin93]

So as I promised I'll post my experience, hoping that someone will find it useful:

I'm an average european md student and I've prepared my exam for 5 months studying approximately 5/hrs a day (I'm pretty lazy and I had to attend wards for the first 3 months so that was the maximum I could do).

Occasionally I would take some days off and I'd suggest to do the same thing to everybody. If once in a while your friends are in a party mood and they want to get wasted, just follow them. If you get to a point where you realize that the exam is killing your social life, it might get depressing and you might burn out at some point.

I used FA, Uworld and kaplan. The first two are essentials to score more than 220 I think, the third one it's a plus. I didn't do pathoma and right now I wonder what it might have changed.

I bought all the NBME availables and I think that it's absolutely a must. simulations are a huge learning tool as they point out your weak areas and they also might be useful to predict where you stand at. Beware though that new NBMEs are in my opinion a little bit underpredictive. They recently changed the curves to make your score look much worser than what it actually is.

nbme 15 2 months out 194
nbme 13 1 and half month out 200
nbme 16 1 month out 211
nbme 17 3 weeks out 209
nbme 19 10 days out 217
nbme 18 4 days out 223
REAL EXAM 236
Exam looked what I was expecting and if you studied it's pretty fair. If you have any question just feel free to ask

 

[maryjane25]

So as I promised I'll post my experience, hoping that someone will find it useful:

I'm an average european md student and I've prepared my exam for 5 months studying approximately 5/hrs a day (I'm pretty lazy and I had to attend wards for the first 3 months so that was the maximum I could do).

Occasionally I would take some days off and I'd suggest to do the same thing to everybody. If once in a while your friends are in a party mood and they want to get wasted, just follow them. If you get to a point where you realize that the exam is killing your social life, it might get depressing and you might burn out at some point.

I used FA, Uworld and kaplan. The first two are essentials to score more than 220 I think, the third one it's a plus. I didn't do pathoma and right now I wonder what it might have changed.

I bought all the NBME availables and I think that it's absolutely a must. simulations are a huge learning tool as they point out your weak areas and they also might be useful to predict where you stand at. Beware though that new NBMEs are in my opinion a little bit underpredictive. They recently changed the curves to make your score look much worser than what it actually is.

nbme 15 2 months out 194
nbme 13 1 and half month out 200
nbme 16 1 month out 211
nbme 17 3 weeks out 209
nbme 19 10 days out 217
nbme 18 4 days out 223
REAL EXAM 236
Exam looked what I was expecting and if you studied it's pretty fair. If you have any question just feel free to ask

What did you do in your last 4 days leading up to the test? Did you do the free 120? 13 point improvement on the real thing is really great!!! Did you see any repeats from your nbme's? Congrats on being done!

 

[midav8]

Wait you took CK before Step 1? How did you study for CK?

Well, I had a recent experience of Canadian EE and QE1 , both of them cover the topics step 2ck does. So, I decided to do step 2 first thinking that my knowledge of clinic disciplines is fresh enough. Probably my biggest mistake, because on the exam I had plenty of step1 like questions I was totally unprepared . Another mistake was jumping to the banks from the beginning, without reading any book. Now I can say that for the step 2 IMHO, the Kaplan book is almost the same Holy Bible as FA for step 1.

 

[Alice_Alice123]

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..

Different materials are helpful depending on which subjects you know better. Try medex facebook chatbot - it walks you through relevant materials for step 1 - m.me/parceed

 

[Alice_Alice123]

@Phloston - For pharmacy, an MS4 at my school who scored 270+ swears by the Katzung and Trevor book for Pharmacology. However, FA ranks it pretty far down the list. Are you familiar with this book and, if so, do you have any input on whether this level of detail is necessary? I've got about 6-7 months before I take Step, so I figure I can dedicate to more in-depth resources like Katzung's if it would actually be beneficial in the long run. The only thing that seemed to stand out from a brief glance to me was that it had 1,000 pharm-only questions.

I used Katzung and Kaplan as recommended by medex (m.me/parceed) and both worked really well for me

 

[Alice_Alice123]

Medex chatbot (m.me/parceed) recommends Costanzo and First Aid for the Basic Sciences: Organ Systems if you have 6+ months before your exam

 

[Alice_Alice123]

Hi, I'm also an IMG, probably I'm gonna take it on June as well, I finished first read the kaplan lecture notes and videos, but I want to do Pathoma and Goljan, how long did it take you to read Goljan?

Medex recommends Rapid Review Pathology and Robbins Basic Pathology for deep learning and Goljan and BRS for review. And of course Pathoma - m.me/parceed

 

[mymembernames]

C

So as I promised I'll post my experience, hoping that someone will find it useful:

I'm an average european md student and I've prepared my exam for 5 months studying approximately 5/hrs a day (I'm pretty lazy and I had to attend wards for the first 3 months so that was the maximum I could do).

Occasionally I would take some days off and I'd suggest to do the same thing to everybody. If once in a while your friends are in a party mood and they want to get wasted, just follow them. If you get to a point where you realize that the exam is killing your social life, it might get depressing and you might burn out at some point.

I used FA, Uworld and kaplan. The first two are essentials to score more than 220 I think, the third one it's a plus. I didn't do pathoma and right now I wonder what it might have changed.

I bought all the NBME availables and I think that it's absolutely a must. simulations are a huge learning tool as they point out your weak areas and they also might be useful to predict where you stand at. Beware though that new NBMEs are in my opinion a little bit underpredictive. They recently changed the curves to make your score look much worser than what it actually is.

nbme 15 2 months out 194
nbme 13 1 and half month out 200
nbme 16 1 month out 211
nbme 17 3 weeks out 209
nbme 19 10 days out 217
nbme 18 4 days out 223
REAL EXAM 236
Exam looked what I was expecting and if you studied it's pretty fair. If you have any question just feel free to ask

Congrats! What was your UWorld average?

 

[Storph]

Hey Everyone,

I have looked a lot of these over the year, so I thought I would include my thoughts on the exam.

Uworld Average 1st pass: 74%
School Exam 6 months out: 217
NBME 17 start of dedicated: 232
UWSA 1 4 weeks out: 247
NBME 19 3 weeks out: 250
NBME 18 2 weeks out: 250
UWSA 2 1 week out: 254
Step 1: 252

What I did: I started studying halfway through year 1 using firecracker, FA, and Pathoma. At the start of year 2, I started using the Bros deck as opposed to firecracker. I also did the Kaplan Q bank and most of the USMLERx Q bank during school. During dedicated I did a pretty typical study plan. I went through all of FA once, Pathoma once, and Uworld once. Let me know if you guys have any questions.

 

[Stannis Baratheon]

School Exam (NBME 17) 6 weeks out: 172
UWSA 1 4 weeks out: 201
NBME 18 3 weeks out: 220
UWSA 2 2 weeks out: 246
NBME 19 1 week out: 238
UWorld First Pass (Random 40s Timed): 68-78%
Free 120, 2 days out: 88%
Burned Princess Shireen, 1 day out
Actual Step 1: 239

Felt strong after the test, a bit disappointed, remembered 16 questions I got wrong that I checked afterward, nothing to cry about.

Really regret burning Princess Shireen for this.

 

[Joanna1987]

School Exam (NBME 17) 6 weeks out: 172
UWSA 1 4 weeks out: 201
NBME 18 3 weeks out: 220
UWSA 2 2 weeks out: 246
NBME 19 1 week out: 238
UWorld First Pass (Random 40s Timed): 68-78%
Free 120, 2 days out: 88%
Actual Step 1: 239

Felt strong after the test, a bit disappointed, but nothing to cry about.

Really regret burning Princess Shireen for this.[/QUOTE

Congrats on an awesome score! Now go and celebrate!

Did you feel good after the exam? I'm asking cause I felt okay and the more time passes the more freaked out I get I can't stop checking questions I might have gotten wrong

 

[maryjane25]

School Exam (NBME 17) 6 weeks out: 172
UWSA 1 4 weeks out: 201
NBME 18 3 weeks out: 220
UWSA 2 2 weeks out: 246
NBME 19 1 week out: 238
UWorld First Pass (Random 40s Timed): 68-78%
Free 120, 2 days out: 88%
Burned Princess Shireen, 1 day out
Actual Step 1: 239

Felt strong after the test, a bit disappointed, remembered 16 questions I got wrong that I checked afterward, nothing to cry about.

Really regret burning Princess Shireen for this.

Burning princess shireen comment is the most I have laughed this week, lol. Great job!!! your nbme 19 reflected your true score well. Officially panicking now, exam on friday..NBME 19 did NOT go well for me

 

[quincyfuturemd]

Burning princess shireen comment is the most I have laughed this week, lol. Great job!!! your nbme 19 reflected your true score well. Officially panicking now, exam on friday..NBME 19 did NOT go well for me

I think above all else having multiple assessments where you want them to be always trumps performance on one random nbme. Outliers go both ways, it's the same as when someone scores a 250/260 once and then nothing else close to it. They are much less likely to get a 250/260 real deal.

 

[yankees527]

So for all you who have taken NBMEs, which one is the best one to take assuming I only do one?

 

[TheOther]

So for all you who have taken NBMEs, which one is the best one to take assuming I only do one?

18 is probably the way to go.

 

[lizzietx615]

I also have spent far, far too many hours searching all of these threads for score correlations, so I'll add my results to the pile.

Real score: 259

UWSA1 - 264 (6 weeks out)
NBME 13 - 232 (5 weeks out)
UWSA2 - 245 (4 weeks out)
NBME 15- 248 (3 weeks out)
NBME 16 - 257 (2.5 weeks out)
NBME 17 - 248 (2 weeks out)
NBME 19 - 236 (1.5 weeks out)
NBME 18 - 240 (1 week out)

So, essentially, my most predictive were NBME 16 (underestimated by 2) and UWSA1 (overestimated by 5).

Good luck, everyone!!

 

[sss2g2]

So as I promised I'll post my experience, hoping that someone will find it useful:

I'm an average european md student and I've prepared my exam for 5 months studying approximately 5/hrs a day (I'm pretty lazy and I had to attend wards for the first 3 months so that was the maximum I could do).

Occasionally I would take some days off and I'd suggest to do the same thing to everybody. If once in a while your friends are in a party mood and they want to get wasted, just follow them. If you get to a point where you realize that the exam is killing your social life, it might get depressing and you might burn out at some point.

I used FA, Uworld and kaplan. The first two are essentials to score more than 220 I think, the third one it's a plus. I didn't do pathoma and right now I wonder what it might have changed.

I bought all the NBME availables and I think that it's absolutely a must. simulations are a huge learning tool as they point out your weak areas and they also might be useful to predict where you stand at. Beware though that new NBMEs are in my opinion a little bit underpredictive. They recently changed the curves to make your score look much worser than what it actually is.

nbme 15 2 months out 194
nbme 13 1 and half month out 200
nbme 16 1 month out 211
nbme 17 3 weeks out 209
nbme 19 10 days out 217
nbme 18 4 days out 223
REAL EXAM 236
Exam looked what I was expecting and if you studied it's pretty fair. If you have any question just feel free to ask

Congratulations!!!What did you do to jump from 200-223? Just Uworld and First Aid? How many passes of first aid did you do? Did you know everything in FA?

 

[chromuffin]

All of these scores are phenomenal and really make me not feel super concerned that I have had a 207 4 weeks out from my exam. Here's to hoping I at least get 240 in T-minus 3 weeks!

 

[sss2g2]

Well, I had a recent experience of Canadian EE and QE1 , both of them cover the topics step 2ck does. So, I decided to do step 2 first thinking that my knowledge of clinic disciplines is fresh enough. Probably my biggest mistake, because on the exam I had plenty of step1 like questions I was totally unprepared . Another mistake was jumping to the banks from the beginning, without reading any book. Now I can say that for the step 2 IMHO, the Kaplan book is almost the same Holy Bible as FA for step 1.

Oh nice so you recommend Kaplan for CK? I'm thinking of jumping right into CK studying after Step 1. Any advice?

 

[TaroBubbleTea]

Got my score surprisingly fast. Was not expecting it for another week. Ended up scoring a 242. I prepped for 5 weeks during dedicated, but started some degree of prep starting in February of M2 (mostly doing USMLE Rx). UWorld was done in random blocks and my final % was 69%.

Practice test scores in the order I took them:
Baseline CBSE: 195 (2 mon out)
UWSA1: 241 (start of dedicated)
NBME 15: 221
NBME 13: 225
USWA2: 232
NBME 16: 232
NBME 17: 235
NBME 18: 244
NBME 19: 228
Free 120: 87.5%

As you can see, I kind of peaked super early with UWSA1. I would say the NBMEs under predicted overall, save for NBME 18 and the Free 120.

My main resources for studying were UFAPS. If I could do it all again, I would start prepping a bit earlier, ie January, and I would have incorporated Boards and Beyond much earlier, ideally at the start of M1. Additionally, I also would have started UWorld a week or two before dedicated so that I could at least go over incorrects a second time.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[ngc 2170]

Score came back faster than expected, in less than 3 weeks.
Test day: Much harder than both NBMEs I took and both UWSAs. Walked out feeling I did significantly worse than I expected to do. Obviously, that did not line up with reality — my guess is that many "stumper" questions were experimental or just washed out with the curve. The curve must have been far, far more generous than that of the NBMEs.

Timing... there was plenty of time to finish each section. I generally finished with 10+ minutes to spare, and ended the day with 90 minutes of break time remaining (I didn't use much either because after eating, I just wanted to get back to the exam and get it over with...).

Question stems were generally fairly brief, more akin to NBME than UWorld. Some questions were off the wall and I had never heard of the topic before; that occurred particularly with respect to musculoskeletal and dermatology material. Others were prosaic topics asked about in a strange way that confused me utterly. Pictures were generally good quality. Lots of radiology (more than I expected, by far). Quite a bit of genetics. Multiple ethics questions that I could narrow down to 2 choices but could not differentiate after that. Couple of heart sound questions with the interactive interface; sound quality was great and those questions were not difficult.

Lesson learned is that Step 1 will crush your soul and make you feel you did horrible even if you did well.

Step 1: 259
Baseline/pre-dedicated study NBME (17), ~1.5 months out: 244 (580)
Second NBME (19), ~3 weeks out: 252 (620)
UWSA 1, 1 week out: 277 (730)
UWSA 2, day before exam: 262 (forgot to note assessment score)
UWorld cumulative %: 84.2% (96th percentile)

Amazingly the average of the 4 practice tests is 258.75. How crazy is that.

Resources used:
First Aid: Nothing to say here, everyone knows First Aid. Lots of stuff in the book that is actually quite low-yield. You can't learn everything, the volume is too great. Make sure you know the stuff that comes up more than once. Anything that doesn't, maybe don't go crazy trying to memorize (e.g. pharmacology section's endless pages of random side effects).
Pathoma: Awesome. Pay a lot of attention to the first few (fundamentals) chapters. These are free points if you have the facts down pat. I missed a point on an easy question straight out of the inflammation chapter and kicked myself for it later. This book is slim and easy to review once you've read through it once. Rinse and repeat.
UWorld: Nothing to say here. Interface is a carbon copy of the actual step 1 interface. Questions are great. Do timed and random, and suppress your rage at the endless number of arcane questions in the bank. You can't know everything, but you can learn all the random stuff you do happen to come across...
USMLERx Qbank: I highly recommend doing USMLERx during M2 because it basically serves as a pass through First Aid in a more digestible format. I did ~90% of the question bank. Used during organ system courses midway through M2. Medium and hard questions only, timed. Did easy questions when I'd cleared a subject, just to complete them and see 0 questions remaining on the tally.
Rapid Review Pathology: Read some chapters. Not really necessary but if you have time sure why not. Goljan writes well and the chapters are fast reads.
SketchyMicro: Watched virus, parasite, and fungi videos only. SketchyMicro is amazing and I suggest using it early and often. I should have used it for the bacteria but by the time I started using it in general, I had already studied the bacteria extensively anyway.
MicroCards: Pretty good, more useful in microbiology course than for Step review in my experience.
PharmCards: Not very useful in my opinion... too dense and too many cards.

I did only one pass of UWorld because I ran out of time and motivation to go back through or even review my missed questions. However, I did review a Word doc I made with "pearls" from each question I missed throughout my dedicated study period. Were I to re-do this process (not in a million years!), I would take the time to do a second pass of UWorld and also do more NBMEs, and maybe re-review the first few chapters of Pathoma (very high yield!).

YMMV

 

[Reperfused]

"WHY" does staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome occur in patients with Renal failure?

 

[LAK84]

I gave NBME 13 a month ago, got 182 with 69.5% (139/200). So I guess with a little over 70%, one should be able to pass. Hope this helps

That NBME had a really tough curve, I remember that

I'm pretty sure it's more like 65% but who knows for sure!

 

[Dr.Jekyll75]

"WHY" does staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome occur in patients with Renal failure?

im gonna take a stab at this and say hypovolemia to the kidneys leads to ischemia leading to renal failure

 

[Reperfused]

im gonna take a stab at this and say hypovolemia to the kidneys leads to ischemia leading to renal failure

Yeah, but how will that predispose to staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome?