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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[aladeen]

finally time to post on this! i'm officially in dedicated, 7 weeks out from my date. was planning on taking NBME 12 soon to get my base line score, but i'm also only planning on 3 NBMEs total... should i take the most recent ones? can't find a post detailing which ones are the most reflective/accurately predict scores.

 

[TheOther]

finally time to post on this! i'm officially in dedicated, 7 weeks out from my date. was planning on taking NBME 12 soon to get my base line score, but i'm also only planning on 3 NBMEs total... should i take the most recent ones? can't find a post detailing which ones are the most reflective/accurately predict scores.

Congrats! Almost there. I'm officially at 10 weeks out

I've read that NBME 18 is a must and that the UWSAs have actually been pretty solid. If you plan on doing 3 NBMEs, I think 16, 17, 18 would be your best bet.

 

[Anti-PD1]

The curves on these tests is peculiar. I got 14 wrong, and that translates to 255, NBME 15. Does anyone have any idea if the real deal is similarly unforgiving?

 

[Transposony]

Does anyone have any idea if the real deal is similarly unforgiving?

It's more forgiving early on but get's steeper once your score goes higher.

 

[TheOther]

The curves on these tests is peculiar. I got 14 wrong, and that translates to 255, NBME 15. Does anyone have any idea if the real deal is similarly unforgiving?

Aren't the NBMEs also only 4 blocks of 50? Meaning the real deal has 1.6x more questions so a little more forgiving. I hope.

 

[Surgeria]

Aren't the NBMEs also only 4 blocks of 50? Meaning the real deal has 1.6x more questions so a little more forgiving. I hope.

I think that's why the real deal is more forgiving, more chances to do a mistake and score high.

I think slightly more forgiving. Anyway for example to score 260 on step 1, you need to answer 90% of questions right on both real deal and nbme's. This may not be for sure, but anywhere around this. The percentage is the same, the difference is that on nbme 10% will be around 10-15 questions i guess and on real deal that 10% will be 30-40 questions. More questions, more probability to know the concept if you know most of the concepts ( I guess)

 

[Qrio]

I think that's why the real deal is more forgiving, more chances to do a mistake and score high.

I think slightly more forgiving. Anyway for example to score 260 on step 1, you need to answer 90% of questions right on both real deal and nbme's. This may not be for sure, but anywhere around this. The percentage is the same, the difference is that on nbme 10% will be around 10-15 questions i guess and on real deal that 10% will be 30-40 questions. More questions, more probability to know the concept if you know most of the concepts ( I guess)

90% on NBME is 248 +/- 5

 

[Surgeria]

90% on NBME is 248 +/- 5

Are you sure? As I remember people are making 10 mistakes and score 260 on nbme's (I remember this from previous posts), I can be wrong.

 

[chromuffin]

Are you sure? As I remember people are making 10 mistakes and score 260 on nbme's (I remember this from previous posts), I can be wrong.

4 blocks of 50 = 200.
190/200 = 95%

 

[OlgaW007]

Are you sure? As I remember people are making 10 mistakes and score 260 on nbme's (I remember this from previous posts), I can be wrong.

I got 6 mistakes on nbme 17 and scored 269.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Surgeria]

Got it now. Olga I remember your posts from previous pages, you got stellar scores in nbme, I bet you have done great. Tell us later about your results, good luck! And if you don't mind, can you provide us information about your previous nbme's and the timeline about the improvements in those nbme's, will be great.

 

[OlgaW007]

Got it now. Olga I remember your posts from previous pages, you got stellar scores in nbme, I bet you have done great. Tell us later about your results, good luck! And if you don't mind, can you provide us information about your previous nbme's and the timeline about the improvements in those nbme's, will be great.

NBME 13 - 202 (year prior)
UWSA 1 - 230 (7 months prior)
UWSA 2 - 215 (6 months prior)
NBME 15 - 217 (5 months prior)
NBME 16 - 225 (3 months prior)
NBME 18 (not extended) - 211 (1 month prior) - postponed the test for 1 month, took NBME 18 (extended) after a weekly break without looking for the explanations and got 234
NBME 17 - 269 (7 days before test)

After the test felt like I failed.

 

[Surgeria]

NBME 13 - 202 (year prior)
UWSA 1 - 230 (7 months prior)
UWSA 2 - 215 (6 months prior)
NBME 15 - 217 (5 months prior)
NBME 16 - 225 (3 months prior)
NBME 18 (not extended) - 211 (1 month prior) - postponed the test for 1 month, took NBME 18 (extended) after a weekly break without looking for the explanations and got 234
NBME 17 - 269 (7 days before test)

After the test felt like I failed.

I hope everything will end well for you.

 

[Anti-PD1]

NBME 13 - 202 (year prior)
UWSA 1 - 230 (7 months prior)
UWSA 2 - 215 (6 months prior)
NBME 15 - 217 (5 months prior)
NBME 16 - 225 (3 months prior)
NBME 18 (not extended) - 211 (1 month prior) - postponed the test for 1 month, took NBME 18 (extended) after a weekly break without looking for the explanations and got 234
NBME 17 - 269 (7 days before test)

After the test felt like I failed.

That's a huge jump from 18 to 17. Anything you felt was particularly helpful? I'm at the tail of end of trying to max out.

 

[Surgeria]

That's a huge jump from 18 to 17. Anything you felt was particularly helpful? I'm at the tail of end of trying to max out.

How much do your scores improve in the dedicated period if not a secret? I hope they did, and if yes, what is the crucial moment in that huge improvements in the dedicated part? Some people say it's first aid in the dedicated with second run of uworld, others state that you like review all the material all together and that causes that huge bumps. I read a lot experiences from 2016 and many, many of that people have jumps from 225 to 260 in the dedicated, or 230-260. Of course some of that people also had 230's 240's 2 month out of dedicated but one more time, many and many people make real crazy damn bumps in the score in the dedicated. If the person has already done ufap before dedicated, how it is going to increase scores so much in the dedicated just by doing the already done material? ... retaining more for a short time of period? That's the answer? ...


And I have one more question, I hope anyone will respond. If a person let's say scores 215-225 on nbme's after doing uworld once. At this point what is better to do, repeat infinite times uworld 2nd run, 3rd run e.t.c or to add kaplan q-bank + 2nd run uworld? Why I am asking this question is because I know some people who got 260 + with only uworld as a bank, so this makes me to think that any other bank except the uworld is total loss of time on less high yield materials that you will anyway forget and unable to take it to the exam (if you are not genius, and I am not). What seems to me ok is to do some usmle rx questions just to retain more first aid minutas. but what about kaplan? Do it because many of people does, just because of this? Or be totally dedicated to ufap and do it infinite times, 2,3,4,5times whatever, until every damn concept will not be understood extremely well? If somebody thinks that using kaplan is a good idea just to train on more questions, we can do all the nbme's, it will be 2800 in total, and I think if about training yourself it's better to train on nbme's not kaplans. Maybe it sounds crazy but I am thinking of doing uworld total of 5 times and rx offline in the free of studying time (when relaxing, doing other stuff, waiting for something). Also I have an idea to do kaplan subjectvise if the week areas after nbme extended, but sure not the whole bank. Phloston was saying that kaplan is good at behavioural, micro, physio. that makes me to think that we can use uworld + this kaplan subjects of course if we will be deficient in this subjects.

Any ideas? ...

 

[OlgaW007]

That's a huge jump from 18 to 17. Anything you felt was particularly helpful? I'm at the tail of end of trying to max out.

I did not use any additional books. I went through WORLD marked and incorrect. And JUST RELAXED - it's NBME and it's not going to bite you. I was very calm when I was doing it. I noticed from my experience that if I push myself too hard my result will decline. I tried to do not overwork myself so I will have an energy for an actual test. A few days before the actual test I watched some DIT videos on my weakest points (kidneys and neuro) and it helped a lot. Also, I finished incorrect uworld a few days before the test. And I got almost identical questions on the test.
Behavioral questions on the real test were much harder than in UWORLD or NBME. Statistics were easier than UWORLD. I would say FA is more than enough for statistics.

 

[OlgaW007]

[QUOTE="Surgeria,
And I have one more question, I hope anyone will respond. If a person let's say scores 215-225 on nbme's after doing uworld once. At this point what is better to do, repeat infinite times uworld 2nd run, 3rd run e.t.c or to add kaplan q-bank + 2nd run uworld? Why I am asking this question is because I know some people who got 260 + with only uworld as a bank, so this makes me to think that any other bank except the uworld is total loss of time on less high yield materials that you will anyway forget and unable to take it to the exam (if you are not genius, and I am not). What seems to me ok is to do some usmle rx questions just to retain more first aid minutas. but what about kaplan? Do it because many of people does, just because of this? Or be totally dedicated to ufap and do it infinite times, 2,3,4,5times whatever, until every damn concept will not be understood extremely well? If somebody thinks that using kaplan is a good idea just to train on more questions, we can do all the nbme's, it will be 2800 in total, and I think if about training yourself it's better to train on nbme's not kaplans. Maybe it sounds crazy but I am thinking of doing uworld total of 5 times and rx offline in the free of studying time (when relaxing, doing other stuff, waiting for something). Also I have an idea to do kaplan subjectvise if the week areas after nbme extended, but sure not the whole bank. Phloston was saying that kaplan is good at behavioural, micro, physio. that makes me to think that we can use uworld + this kaplan subjects of course if we will be deficient in this subjects.

Any ideas? ...[/QUOTE]

I did not take Kaplan Qbank but I did questions from Kaplan book with questions. In my opinion, Kaplan asks a lot low yield things and you probably will not retain a majority of this information. The only subject which worth your attention in Kaplan is a statistic. UsmleRX helps you to memorize FA and this is it.
UWORLD has a great advantage in explanations. They will give you some concepts which you will not meet in FA or other books. It's a great study tool. I would say that good 60% of my knowledge came from doing UWORLD. Because when you just read and understand things in a review book it's just raw information. You don't know how it's going to be tested. Uworld prepares you for the questions format. And in my opinion it's crucial to be prepared for the style of questions. When you do uworld again you spend less time on the question because you're familiar with the format. The real test is absolutely the same. So the more you're doing uworld the more you'll be prepared. Doing uworld questions is like building muscle - more you do - more you get.

 

[chromuffin]

[QUOTE="Surgeria,
And I have one more question, I hope anyone will respond. If a person let's say scores 215-225 on nbme's after doing uworld once. At this point what is better to do, repeat infinite times uworld 2nd run, 3rd run e.t.c or to add kaplan q-bank + 2nd run uworld? Why I am asking this question is because I know some people who got 260 + with only uworld as a bank, so this makes me to think that any other bank except the uworld is total loss of time on less high yield materials that you will anyway forget and unable to take it to the exam (if you are not genius, and I am not). What seems to me ok is to do some usmle rx questions just to retain more first aid minutas. but what about kaplan? Do it because many of people does, just because of this? Or be totally dedicated to ufap and do it infinite times, 2,3,4,5times whatever, until every damn concept will not be understood extremely well? If somebody thinks that using kaplan is a good idea just to train on more questions, we can do all the nbme's, it will be 2800 in total, and I think if about training yourself it's better to train on nbme's not kaplans. Maybe it sounds crazy but I am thinking of doing uworld total of 5 times and rx offline in the free of studying time (when relaxing, doing other stuff, waiting for something). Also I have an idea to do kaplan subjectvise if the week areas after nbme extended, but sure not the whole bank. Phloston was saying that kaplan is good at behavioural, micro, physio. that makes me to think that we can use uworld + this kaplan subjects of course if we will be deficient in this subjects.

Any ideas? ...

I did not take Kaplan Qbank but I did questions from Kaplan book with questions. In my opinion, Kaplan asks a lot low yield things and you probably will not retain a majority of this information. The only subject which worth your attention in Kaplan is a statistic. UsmleRX helps you to memorize FA and this is it.
UWORLD has a great advantage in explanations. They will give you some concepts which you will not meet in FA or other books. It's a great study tool. I would say that good 60% of my knowledge came from doing UWORLD. Because when you just read and understand things in a review book it's just raw information. You don't know how it's going to be tested. Uworld prepares you for the questions format. And in my opinion it's crucial to be prepared for the style of questions. When you do uworld again you spend less time on the question because you're familiar with the format. The real test is absolutely the same. So the more you're doing uworld the more you'll be prepared. Doing uworld questions is like building muscle - more you do - more you get.[/QUOTE]

So would you say doing Uworld first and reading is more important than studying FA? Only like 300 Q through first pass of UWorld right now and only done biochem, cards FA. 12 weeks from exam. Feeling short on time.

 

[OlgaW007]

I did not take Kaplan Qbank but I did questions from Kaplan book with questions. In my opinion, Kaplan asks a lot low yield things and you probably will not retain a majority of this information. The only subject which worth your attention in Kaplan is a statistic. UsmleRX helps you to memorize FA and this is it.
UWORLD has a great advantage in explanations. They will give you some concepts which you will not meet in FA or other books. It's a great study tool. I would say that good 60% of my knowledge came from doing UWORLD. Because when you just read and understand things in a review book it's just raw information. You don't know how it's going to be tested. Uworld prepares you for the questions format. And in my opinion it's crucial to be prepared for the style of questions. When you do uworld again you spend less time on the question because you're familiar with the format. The real test is absolutely the same. So the more you're doing uworld the more you'll be prepared. Doing uworld questions is like building muscle - more you do - more you get.

So would you say doing Uworld first and reading is more important than studying FA? Only like 300 Q through first pass of UWorld right now and only done biochem, cards FA. 12 weeks from exam. Feeling short on time.[/QUOTE]
Uworld and FA should be together. Just FA is not enough.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Surgeria]

Thank you Olga for a thorough explanation, I appreciate it. I Think I will do the same, supplement uworld with kaplan biostats and if nbme will show that I am low at behavioral + micro ( and I think it will) I will supplement with kaplan q bank.

 

[goal270]

Hi guys. Could you please help me out a bit?
So I reserved the July-August-September slot for my exam. I am still to send the form 183 from my medical school. Is it possible to change my dates before sending the form so that I could send a new form with the updated time period on it?
I know you can extend the exam later with a 100$ fee. But I haven't exactly booked the slot yet I guess, so is it possible for me to change the dates without paying any fee?
Thanks!

 

[blueforest]

Hey guys, my exam is exactly one month from today. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, my Uworld % keeps increasing (66% now) and I've been getting 70s the last 10+ blocks. Sometimes a random lower 60 gets in there, though. I just took NBME 15 and I'm honestly wiping tears off my cheeks as I'm writing this because I scored 205. I thought I would get at least >220... My last nbme was a 209 and I thought I was improving, my lowest seems to be cardiovascular and behavioral sciences. However, I have a few stars for high performance as well. Right now I'm an emotional mess, I seriously don't know what it is about NBME questions. I'm so upset, sorry for the vent.

 

[OlgaW007]

Hey guys, my exam is exactly one month from today. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, my Uworld % keeps increasing (66% now) and I've been getting 70s the last 10+ blocks. Sometimes a random lower 60 gets in there, though. I just took NBME 15 and I'm honestly wiping tears off my cheeks as I'm writing this because I scored 205. I thought I would get at least >220... My last nbme was a 209 and I thought I was improving, my lowest seems to be cardiovascular and behavioral sciences. However, I have a few stars for high performance as well. Right now I'm an emotional mess, I seriously don't know what it is about NBME questions. I'm so upset, sorry for the vent.

You still have one month. You can improve your score. You have everything for it. Analyze your report. What are your weakest areas? Work on it. Did you take an extended version? If yes- go through incorrect and see what you did wrong.
I've been on your place when my exam was in 3 days and I got 211 on NBME 18. I postponed. And then after 1-week break took it again and got 234. And 3 weeks later I got 269 on NBME 17.
Maybe you overworked yourself?
Anyway when you'll feel ready to take another NBME keep in mind that you can postpone. And just relax. If you're too stressed out it will affect your score.

 

[blueforest]

You still have one month. You can improve your score. You have everything for it. Analyze your report. What are your weakest areas? Work on it. Did you take an extended version? If yes- go through incorrect and see what you did wrong.
I've been on your place when my exam was in 3 days and I got 211 on NBME 18. I postponed. And then after 1-week break took it again and got 234. And 3 weeks later I got 269 on NBME 17.
Maybe you overworked yourself?
Anyway when you'll feel ready to take another NBME keep in mind that you can postpone. And just relax. If you're too stressed out it will affect your score.

Thanks for the quick reply. I can't postpone anymore, these have to be my final 4 weeks, now or never. I do feel overworked, but at the same time I was proud of myself for having better uworld averages until today. I'm looking at the NBME 15 discussion pages on this forum and one person who scored ~250 posted his incorrect answers ,and can you believe I answered all of his mistakes CORRECT on my nbme? I don't get it. It's also scary that 77%=205... 77% does not sound so terrible to me, but a 205 definitely does.

 

[TheOther]

Thanks for the quick reply. I can't postpone anymore, these have to be my final 4 weeks, now or never. I do feel overworked, but at the same time I was proud of myself for having better uworld averages until today. I'm looking at the NBME 15 discussion pages on this forum and one person who scored ~250 posted his incorrect answers ,and can you believe I answered all of his mistakes CORRECT on my nbme? I don't get it. It's also scary that 77%=205... 77% does not sound so terrible to me, but a 205 definitely does.

77% on an NBME means you got 154/200 right, meaning you missed 46. It's not unreasonable to have it translate to a 205.

BUT. This also means you have plenty of room to improve. Don't let it get to your head to much, focus on your weak subjects and keep moving on. If there's no chance of postponing, there's no time to sulk or get discouraged. Let it fuel the next week of studying and take another NBME. You got this.

 

[Anti-PD1]

Took UWSA1 today. Got several wrong that were just so stupid of me. I heard that UWSA scores are not inflated like they used to be. Is that true? I hope it's true.

 

[TheOther]

Took UWSA1 today. Got several wrong that were just so stupid of me. I heard that UWSA scores are not inflated like they used to be. Is that true? I hope it's true.

I've heard it's true. 4th years told me even just a couple years ago that UWSA overshot a lot of people's scores.
But from what I've read on here in the past year, it seems to have gotten a lot closer to people's actual scores -- at least for those who took it near their exam dates.

 

[Theppunisher]

Hello Everyone,
So I received a score earlier last week from my school of a school administered NBME type exam that I believe is called the CBSE. I got in the 240s on the Exam. at the time I took the exam I was at about 55-60% done with Uworld. Still had not reviewed all of first aid and still have not. I was wondering what a prelim score of this kind means? I was not happy with this score but I guess it will do. We are in our second to last course and begin ISP in about 4 weeks or so which I will have 5 weeks to prepare for the exam. I am looking for a score above 250-255.
Also my worst section by far was the behavioral wow! any suggestions on this (have never gone over it on first aid nor has it been presented in our curriculum)

 

[chromuffin]

Hello Everyone,
So I received a score earlier last week from my school of a school administered NBME type exam that I believe is called the CBSE. I got in the 240s on the Exam. at the time I took the exam I was at about 55-60% done with Uworld. Still had not reviewed all of first aid and still have not. I was wondering what a prelim score of this kind means? I was not happy with this score but I guess it will do. We are in our second to last course and begin ISP in about 4 weeks or so which I will have 5 weeks to prepare for the exam. I am looking for a score above 250-255.
Also my worst section by far was the behavioral wow! any suggestions on this (have never gone over it on first aid nor has it been presented in our curriculum)

Trolling much? I think your baseline 240+ is going to get you 250s on the real thing

 

[TheOther]

Trolling much? I think your baseline 240+ is going to get you 250s on the real thing

My thoughts exactly. That #humblebrag.

 

[Theppunisher]

Sorry If it came out that way but was just wondering because I wonder if scoring this high on a prelim is a actually a good or bad thing because it seems like people that have got those 250+ have started at a much lower baseline. I also dont think I have seen anyone on here talk about the CBSE so was wondering if they have had any experience with it.
And also any recommendations for behavioral.
Also felt like a missed things that should have been easy points and wondering if anyone has any insights on how to reduce the amount incorrect on those quesions

 

[Anti-PD1]

Sorry If it came out that way but was just wondering because I wonder if scoring this high on a prelim is a actually a good or bad thing because it seems like people that have got those 250+ have started at a much lower baseline. I also dont think I have seen anyone on here talk about the CBSE so was wondering if they have had any experience with it.
And also any recommendations for behavioral.
Also felt like a missed things that should have been easy points and wondering if anyone has any insights on how to reduce the amount incorrect on those quesions

I have always found First Aid to be sufficient.

Some people recommend this book if you need extra review.

Amazon product

 

[Qrio]

Took UWSA1 today. Got several wrong that were just so stupid of me. I heard that UWSA scores are not inflated like they used to be. Is that true? I hope it's true.

89% = 271 I just can't believe that curve on the real deal can be so kind.

 

[Surgeria]

89% = 271 I just can't believe that curve on the real deal can be so kind.

in uwsa you get the questions that you already seen previously and I think that's the cause of so high scores (in case if uworld uses same questions in uwsa as previously) So i think it is stupid way to estimate your real deal score ...

 

[lucky01]

Anyone aware of the changes occurring this summer?
Apparently no change in the # of questions, but style?

What does it mean exactly?

http://usmle.org/announcements/?ContentId=195

I really hope someone could shed some light on this! It seems like every year NBME is making changes to step 1. Are they making the exams periodically harder?

 

[Anti-PD1]

in uwsa you get the questions that you already seen previously and I think that's the cause of so high scores (in case if uworld uses same questions in uwsa as previously) So i think it is stupid way to estimate your real deal score ...

True, but I've done a lot of NBMEs, and a lot if questions in general. Questions and at least concepts get repeated all the time. The material is finite.

 

[OlgaW007]

in uwsa you get the questions that you already seen previously and I think that's the cause of so high scores (in case if uworld uses same questions in uwsa as previously) So i think it is stupid way to estimate your real deal score ...

On a real test I got many questions almost identical to uworld. So doing uwsa is not such a bad idea.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Reperfused]

Really? You get questions from Uworld qbank repeated in UWSA? What's the point of it being an assessment test then?

 

[blueforest]

Really? You get questions from Uworld qbank repeated in UWSA? What's the point of it being an assessment test then?

I think I read on the Uworld website/Qbank somewhere that the questions are actually different. You are right, what would be the point? I'm sure concepts overlap but they probably have different style/wording.

 

[mymembernames]

Is this accurate?

https://medicalopedia.org/4030/nbme-kaplan-qbank-and-usmleworld-qbank-score-2013-correlation-table/

 

[TheOther]

Is this accurate?

https://medicalopedia.org/4030/nbme-kaplan-qbank-and-usmleworld-qbank-score-2013-correlation-table/

No.

 

[DocSpy332]

Hey guys international medical student from Greece here.
Just received my score-254 .. so I would like to share my experience.

Resources

1. First Aid
2. Becker video lectures
3. Pathoma
4. CMMRS
5. First Aid
6. Kaplan qbank
7. UWorld qbank
8. ANKI

Preparation

January 2016-June 2016: First pass through my resources and annotation of First Aid 2015 (along with my Med school courses)

DEDICATED (August 2016-January 2017)

1. 5 Aug-19 Oct: Studying of (annotated) FA2015 & transferring notes to FA2016
2. 20 Oct 2016: NBME 12-->230
3. 22 Oct-31 Nov: UWorld (1 block/day) & taking notes & review theory when needed
4. 1 Dec-26 Dec: Review (annotated) FA 2016 & UWorld notes
5. 27 Dec: NBME 17-->255
6. 29 Dec-10 Jan: UWorld (2 blocks/day) & taking notes & review theory when needed
7. 14 Jan: 2 assessments back to back & 1h total break ----> NBME 15-->252 & UWSA 1-->266
8. 15 Jan-24 Jan: Review (annotated) FA 2016 & UWorld notes
9. 25 Jan: NBME 18-->246 (not a good day)
10. 26 Jan-5 Feb: Review (annotated) FA 2016 & UWorld notes
11. (31 Jan-->practice session at prometric center = free 120 q’s-->89%)
12. 7 Feb 2017: REAL TEST-->254

Comments

1. Anki

I was pretty lucky to have a friend with whom we began our preparation together using the same resources. He spent a lot of time (and I mean A LOT of time) creating his own flashcards , which he shared with me. Every time I received a deck from him was like receiving a blessing from God( ).Sadly by the time I began my dedicated period he hadn’t completed about half of the sections of FA, and I had to use Brocencephalon’s deck for the missing ones (Bro’s deck was far inferior compared to the deck my friend was making, but I guess it was better than nothing). I did flashcards everyday (at least one hour per day from November 2015 to 15 Jan 2017 without skipping a single day) which really improved my long-term retention of knowledge and minimized the time required for reviews.

2. Hours per day during dedicated
August-September : 6h/day (including Anki)
Oct-Nov: 7-8h/day (including Anki)
Dec:9h/day (including Anki)
Jan:11h/day (not including Anki)

3. Sites that I found useful
http://library.med.utah.edu/WebPath/webpath.html
I didn't use it systematically but if I had to prepare for step 1 again I would definitely incorporate that in my studying

https://www.usmle-rx.com/proposed-errata-and-suggestions-fa-step-1
When you end a system or a section in First Aid just check out what other people proposed to change in next first aid version. You will find too many hidden gems here PLUS you will have the new First Aid long before its published

https://www.reddit.com/r/step1/comments/4uej4b/survey_results_2016_usmle_step_1_correlation/
When taking your NBMEs just check out these correlation charts to assess where you stand.

 

[Major procrastinator]

took step 1 last week.

it was easier than nbme 18, most like nbme 16

similar to free 120 in terms of difficulty for 85% exam

trust your preparation

uworld is way harder and trickier

know FA2017 and pathoma well
do ALL NBME ONLINE and find the right answers for yourself. so many similar questions on real deal, its crazzzzzzzy

 

[Major procrastinator]

Sorry If it came out that way but was just wondering because I wonder if scoring this high on a prelim is a actually a good or bad thing because it seems like people that have got those 250+ have started at a much lower baseline. I also dont think I have seen anyone on here talk about the CBSE so was wondering if they have had any experience with it.
And also any recommendations for behavioral.
Also felt like a missed things that should have been easy points and wondering if anyone has any insights on how to reduce the amount incorrect on those quesions

i took exam last week had 3 questions each block on behavioral/biostat

uworld biostat review
FA sections
kaplan behavioral videos
medical ethics by fischer-can finish in 6 hours easily that includes doing 150 ethics questions

overall thats giving 2 whole days to a relatively HY subject (at least my exam) and easy points baby

 

[Major procrastinator]

Congrats! Almost there. I'm officially at 10 weeks out

I've read that NBME 18 is a must and that the UWSAs have actually been pretty solid. If you plan on doing 3 NBMEs, I think 16, 17, 18 would be your best bet.

i would say 15, 16, 18. 17 is too easy and curve is too steep

NBME 19 is out!!!!

 

[Major procrastinator]

Thanks for the quick reply. I can't postpone anymore, these have to be my final 4 weeks, now or never. I do feel overworked, but at the same time I was proud of myself for having better uworld averages until today. I'm looking at the NBME 15 discussion pages on this forum and one person who scored ~250 posted his incorrect answers ,and can you believe I answered all of his mistakes CORRECT on my nbme? I don't get it. It's also scary that 77%=205... 77% does not sound so terrible to me, but a 205 definitely does.

thats crazy, when did you take 15? i think since dec 2016 they made the grading harder or something along with the format of per subject breakdown.

last year i took 15 and got 72% which was a 200. so to get 5% higher and only 5 points is crazy

 

[Major procrastinator]

has anyone realized towards the end of last year NBME changed its reporting. they give a different breakdown of subjects and areas to show strengths and weaknesses. while they made that update did they also change the curves? to me it seems like scoring after the update got a lot harsher. if you search forums you can see that people missed the same amount for a certain NBME but scored lower after the update. this is crazy to me, as if its not hard enough

 

[Surgeria]

has anyone realized towards the end of last year NBME changed its reporting. they give a different breakdown of subjects and areas to show strengths and weaknesses. while they made that update did they also change the curves? to me it seems like scoring after the update got a lot harsher. if you search forums you can see that people missed the same amount for a certain NBME but scored lower after the update. this is crazy to me, as if its not hard enough

I read that many people scored way less than people tend to score a while ago. Maybe that bunch of people was just not lucky enough and got the forms with questions that they were not good at. You think that score curve now is steeper? Like 260 previous year is like 250 now? ...

 

[Major procrastinator]

yeah thats what it seems like to me, curious to see how other people feel

 

[Surgeria]

yeah thats what it seems like to me, curious to see how other people feel

No cause to worry, If me and you we both know that 260 two years ago is equal to 250 now, it will take some time for the information to spread with a speed of light and reach program directors and chairs, people who will decide your future, so no causes to worry. They know perfectly about the curves, they see thousands of applicants so no worries!