USMLE Official 2018 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Foot Fetish]

I've always wanted to start one of these...So here we go!

My stats:

M2
Test time: June 2018
Goal score: 270

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[GoljansRightBicep]

The uwsa are great. THe second one is particularly good (i actually underperformed on it whereas uwsa notoriously overestimates - a friend of mine scored like 30 points lower on their real for uwsa1).
Generally, the newer nbme's are harder imo. 13 was a joke imo while 19 was very difficult (and i did them in chronological order too so 19 was at the end of my study period)
I would definitely do both uwsa and the 2-4 most recent nbmes

What are your thoughts on the old NBME exams (if you did them)?

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[Newyawk]

What are your thoughts on the old NBME exams (if you did them)?

Sent from my [device_name] using SDN mobile

Never did them. I did scroll through a few of them. The trend seems to be away from spitback Qs and many more thought provoking Qs in the more recent nbmes (this goes for the real step too). THats not to say a large portion isnt spitback

 

[pbrocks15]

Has anyone ever went through the Goljan questions that he has online?

@GoljansRightBicep maybe?

 

[nonick123]

Guys, I need some advice. I am an IMG. My exam is in August. I have watched almost all BnB videos and annotated FA with them(3-4 months ago),then started doing only Zanki from September(without reading FA) and I managed to do around 120 cards per day with all the reviews(11 k cards in with 5k mature).However, due to university and medical issues I couldn't continue with anki's algorithm(the reviews are now crazy, around 6k) and decided to start Uworld in tutor mode which I think I will finish in the beginning of March. After March I have around 5 months(let's say 4 "free"months where I can study for a long time). Can you suggest me what to do next? I figured out the following options:
-After I finish Uworld, I will read my notes from it and do FA again with Bnb videos rewatch,Sketchy and Pathoma(without any Zanki). Do Kaplan Q bank(or rx)until July and then do Uworld again in dedicated.
-Finish Uworld, then start Usmle-rx and Kaplan with finishing Zanki(as far as I can) until July,then dedicated
-Finish Uworld, study my notes from it and immediately rush a second pass with another qbank or zanki, then dedicated

Please help.Thanks

 

[Reperfused]

Hey, just need a clarification please.
Does the practice test at the prometric cost $170? Or was it a typo?
I thought it costed $75?

 

[Estranged]

Guys which NBME should I start with? I 'm planning to do 15,16,17,18. Which one is the easiest? Which one is the most predictive?

 

[Reperfused]

I am an IMG and I sat for the practice exam 2 days before the real deal (the reason was that in my city was no Test center, so I arrived to the test center city and took the exam 2 days before the exam). Take it closer to the exam date. Thanks god or whatever that I sat for that exam. The temperature was way higher that I though and my specially bought hoodie without the pockets was like a heater, so on the test day I put on only a thin sweater. Sweating during the usmle is not a best idea. I also tried out the ear plugs (because the "sound damper headsets were actually doing nothing") the plugs were superb, close to 100% sound damping. 170$ is not the money to save when you loan is close to 300-400k. Good luck to all

Hey, just need a clarification please.
Does the practice test at the prometric cost $170? Or was it a typo?
I thought it costed $75?

 

[sahell]

Hi sahell How did you get a 3digit number for the Kaplan Sims? I got 86% in both 2 months ago. How does this correlate to a 3digit score?
Good luck with your test

That's just the number of questions I got right. I think there's a score correlation by clinical review but no idea how predictive it is. I would say your score correlates to high 240s at least because I think my first one is around 86% and I did my first NBME soon after.

 

[sahell]

Guys, I need some advice. I am an IMG. My exam is in August. I have watched almost all BnB videos and annotated FA with them(3-4 months ago),then started doing only Zanki from September(without reading FA) and I managed to do around 120 cards per day with all the reviews(11 k cards in with 5k mature).However, due to university and medical issues I couldn't continue with anki's algorithm(the reviews are now crazy, around 6k) and decided to start Uworld in tutor mode which I think I will finish in the beginning of March. After March I have around 5 months(let's say 4 "free"months where I can study for a long time). Can you suggest me what to do next? I figured out the following options:
-After I finish Uworld, I will read my notes from it and do FA again with Bnb videos rewatch,Sketchy and Pathoma(without any Zanki). Do Kaplan Q bank(or rx)until July and then do Uworld again in dedicated.
-Finish Uworld, then start Usmle-rx and Kaplan with finishing Zanki(as far as I can) until July,then dedicated
-Finish Uworld, study my notes from it and immediately rush a second pass with another qbank or zanki, then dedicated

Please help.Thanks

I would suggest reading through people's past experiences and see how they used resources and build your own plan. I'm writing an account of my STEP 1 experience for a friend that I could share with anyone interested, but I doubt there will be any takers before I get my score. Not everyone's style is the same, so not all advise will be useful to you.

"Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is essentially your own" - Bruce Lee

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Would love to hear peoples thought on the firecracker full length simulation exams if anyone has any opinions. Can’t find a damn thing about their predictive value anywhere

 

[psychMDhopefully]

Never did them. I did scroll through a few of them. The trend seems to be away from spitback Qs and many more thought provoking Qs in the more recent nbmes (this goes for the real step too). THats not to say a large portion isnt spitback

I tried to tell a few attendings that the test gets harder, the cut off for passing gets higher, and the amount of material to cover gets greater for Step 1 but they don't believe me. Back in 1980 I think the cut off for passing was 165, which was about 55% right. This year they are going to make the cut off 194, which is about 71-72% right just to pass.

 

[Newyawk]

I tried to tell a few attendings that the test gets harder, the cut off for passing gets higher, and the amount of material to cover gets greater for Step 1 but they don't believe me. Back in 1980 I think the cut off for passing was 165, which was about 55% right. This year they are going to make the cut off 194, which is about 71-72% right just to pass.

Nobody really knows what the percent required to pass is (and it almosy certainly varies by exam) but yes, to say the exam hasnt gotten harder is pure idiocy. Its also evident in the way some of the older attendings view our knowledgebase. I once had an attending reference diverticulitis to me as tho i couldnt possibly have known what it was.

That being said, the prep material has improved drastically over the years. the resources we have available to us today are astounding relatively

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Taking USMLE in July.

Goal Score: 350

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

Has anyone ever went through the Goljan questions that he has online?

@GoljansRightBicep maybe?

I've tried a few questions through the online access I got from purchasing the book. They seem good, but I haven't done many because they're rather poorly organized (all random, can't study by topic that I'm aware of). Ironically, the bootleg version is better organized.

I plan on doing them all in dedicated - I can report back with my thoughts on them at that time.

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[USMLE_Pro]

Scored a 262 after 7 weeks of dedicated studying (all of UWorld x1, all the NBME practices tests, both UWorld SIM forms)!

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

Scored a 262 after 5 weeks of dedicated studying (all of UWorld x1, all the NBME practices tests, both UWorld SIM forms)! Feel free to PM me if you want to ask me any questions about my study strategy (otherwise I won't bore you all with the details and assume no one cares haha).

Thanks for offering to share your information with us! I'm curious to know what your thought are on the older NBME forms?

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[canadasmvp]

Well I was trying to look at some other **** on SDN but checked in to this thread as it helped me out a lot last year and damn there are way more neurotic people on here than I remembered. For all the discussion of the impossibility of certain scores, etc., I thought I might have some useful advice to chip in as I was a 275+ score on Step last year. First of all to the M1 on here saying you’re studying 3-4 hours for Step daily already(!!) - you need to relax homie. I scored well by learning classroom material the first two years, and then slowly ramping up a few months before I took the exam. Go get drunk with your friends and forget about school for a while. Done that? Go do it again. I had five weeks dedicated and I spent most of the nights playing overwatch after finishing my tasks for the day. This may sound dumb, but I think of successful study plans like completely painting a room - they are much more about making sure each small corner and crack is filled in once than making sure that you put 10 layers on the big parts. I promise that you can study smarter in a more limited time than that insane schedule you listed.

For the M2s here - feel free to ask questions but Ill list my resources and a quick impression. I started to think of Step seriously when I came back from winter break, but didn’t go full steam until dedicated 5 weeks before I took the test. Anyways:
First Aid - overrated, read it through once and then reference it as needed if you’re having trouble remembering
Pathoma - GOAT. Understanding pathophys and being able to apply it is the most important part of this test. Watch through once with highlights and notes and then save time by skimming through book.
UWORLD - GOAT runner up. Do it once through when you start dedicated, then do your wrong ones
Boards and beyond - great for filling in gaps where you feel weak
Sketchy - Great for micro, don’t waste your time on the pharm videos (I just used lange flash cards or something)
Kaplan Qbank - most underrated resource in the game. Ignore the healthcare/insurance/fishbone analysis questions.
Bros/Zanki - I’ll never get why people use these resources. They do not help you learn to apply information to unique scenarios/questions and really only help you gain a surface understanding of important topics. Massive waste of time.

I’ll try to answer questions but can’t promise anything as I don’t frequent this place too often. Also whoever said PDs don’t interview 275+ers - i hope that ain’t true!

 

[Surgeria]

Well I was trying to look at some other **** on SDN but checked in to this thread as it helped me out a lot last year and damn there are way more neurotic people on here than I remembered. For all the discussion of the impossibility of certain scores, etc., I thought I might have some useful advice to chip in as I was a 275+ score on Step last year. First of all to the M1 on here saying you’re studying 3-4 hours for Step daily already(!!) - you need to relax homie. I scored well by learning classroom material the first two years, and then slowly ramping up a few months before I took the exam. Go get drunk with your friends and forget about school for a while. Done that? Go do it again. I had five weeks dedicated and I spent most of the nights playing overwatch after finishing my tasks for the day. This may sound dumb, but I think of successful study plans like completely painting a room - they are much more about making sure each small corner and crack is filled in once than making sure that you put 10 layers on the big parts. I promise that you can study smarter in a more limited time than that insane schedule you listed.

For the M2s here - feel free to ask questions but Ill list my resources and a quick impression. I started to think of Step seriously when I came back from winter break, but didn’t go full steam until dedicated 5 weeks before I took the test. Anyways:
First Aid - overrated, read it through once and then reference it as needed if you’re having trouble remembering
Pathoma - GOAT. Understanding pathophys and being able to apply it is the most important part of this test. Watch through once with highlights and notes and then save time by skimming through book.
UWORLD - GOAT runner up. Do it once through when you start dedicated, then do your wrong ones
Boards and beyond - great for filling in gaps where you feel weak
Sketchy - Great for micro, don’t waste your time on the pharm videos (I just used lange flash cards or something)
Kaplan Qbank - most underrated resource in the game. Ignore the healthcare/insurance/fishbone analysis questions.
Bros/Zanki - I’ll never get why people use these resources. They do not help you learn to apply information to unique scenarios/questions and really only help you gain a surface understanding of important topics. Massive waste of time.

I’ll try to answer questions but can’t promise anything as I don’t frequent this place too often. Also whoever said PDs don’t interview 275+ers - i hope that ain’t true!

Most probably you are one one that guys with super memory that memorize minutaes on the 2nd try and not after 5-8 repeats, playing overwatch on dedicated, saying that bros is nothing ... people must be afraid of advises like this because most of the people have problems remembering that much details and find bros/zanki saving their lifes, which is the case for me. I bet that your IQ level is beyond 2 standart deviations. I had a classmate like you, he/she was studying for a 3-4 hours a day and being ranked number 1 for 6 years in a row, those are just phenomenal people that has nothing to do with the majority of reality. I personally has done uworld 3 times with all wrong/rights, + kaplan + all the nbme's and in the end I scored 240 on NBME 18 which is not bad. I can easily understand any concept but my memory is not strong enough, that was the reason for so many repeats.

 

[Newyawk]

Well I was trying to look at some other **** on SDN but checked in to this thread as it helped me out a lot last year and damn there are way more neurotic people on here than I remembered. For all the discussion of the impossibility of certain scores, etc., I thought I might have some useful advice to chip in as I was a 275+ score on Step last year. First of all to the M1 on here saying you’re studying 3-4 hours for Step daily already(!!) - you need to relax homie. I scored well by learning classroom material the first two years, and then slowly ramping up a few months before I took the exam. Go get drunk with your friends and forget about school for a while. Done that? Go do it again. I had five weeks dedicated and I spent most of the nights playing overwatch after finishing my tasks for the day. This may sound dumb, but I think of successful study plans like completely painting a room - they are much more about making sure each small corner and crack is filled in once than making sure that you put 10 layers on the big parts. I promise that you can study smarter in a more limited time than that insane schedule you listed.

For the M2s here - feel free to ask questions but Ill list my resources and a quick impression. I started to think of Step seriously when I came back from winter break, but didn’t go full steam until dedicated 5 weeks before I took the test. Anyways:
First Aid - overrated, read it through once and then reference it as needed if you’re having trouble remembering
Pathoma - GOAT. Understanding pathophys and being able to apply it is the most important part of this test. Watch through once with highlights and notes and then save time by skimming through book.
UWORLD - GOAT runner up. Do it once through when you start dedicated, then do your wrong ones
Boards and beyond - great for filling in gaps where you feel weak
Sketchy - Great for micro, don’t waste your time on the pharm videos (I just used lange flash cards or something)
Kaplan Qbank - most underrated resource in the game. Ignore the healthcare/insurance/fishbone analysis questions.
Bros/Zanki - I’ll never get why people use these resources. They do not help you learn to apply information to unique scenarios/questions and really only help you gain a surface understanding of important topics. Massive waste of time.

I’ll try to answer questions but can’t promise anything as I don’t frequent this place too often. Also whoever said PDs don’t interview 275+ers - i hope that ain’t true!

Dude we basically have the exact same view on all of those resources. Good stuff

 

[USMLE_Pro]

Thanks for offering to share your information with us! I'm curious to know what your thought are on the older NBME forms?

Sent from my SM-G935U using Tapatalk

I found the older NBME forms to be a lot more accurate (in terms of scoring) than the newer ones (I scored a 240 on the most recent one days before the test)

 

[bobjonesbob]

I found the older NBME forms to be a lot more accurate (in terms of scoring) than the newer ones (I scored a 240 on the most recent one days before the test)

Would you say that includes similarity in content and question style?

If counting all the retired exams, I think that's 3000 questions total. Where would you rank the importance of doing all those questions in comparison to uworld and kaplan?

 

[USMLE_Pro]

Would you say that includes similarity in content and question style?

If counting all the retired exams, I think that's 3000 questions total. Where would you rank the importance of doing all those questions in comparison to uworld and kaplan?

Hm, I’m not sure about content and question style (I do remember the later exams subjectively feeling more difficult, perhaps more “far out” questions but not necessarily super off in terms of content and style). I did not touch the retired exams or Kaplan. I personally felt the NBME exams were the most useful recourse, but I can’t speak to how I would have done if I didn’t do all of UWorld.

 

[Terence McKenna]

Well I was trying to look at some other **** on SDN but checked in to this thread as it helped me out a lot last year and damn there are way more neurotic people on here than I remembered. For all the discussion of the impossibility of certain scores, etc., I thought I might have some useful advice to chip in as I was a 275+ score on Step last year. First of all to the M1 on here saying you’re studying 3-4 hours for Step daily already(!!) - you need to relax homie. I scored well by learning classroom material the first two years, and then slowly ramping up a few months before I took the exam. Go get drunk with your friends and forget about school for a while. Done that? Go do it again. I had five weeks dedicated and I spent most of the nights playing overwatch after finishing my tasks for the day. This may sound dumb, but I think of successful study plans like completely painting a room - they are much more about making sure each small corner and crack is filled in once than making sure that you put 10 layers on the big parts. I promise that you can study smarter in a more limited time than that insane schedule you listed.

For the M2s here - feel free to ask questions but Ill list my resources and a quick impression. I started to think of Step seriously when I came back from winter break, but didn’t go full steam until dedicated 5 weeks before I took the test. Anyways:
First Aid - overrated, read it through once and then reference it as needed if you’re having trouble remembering
Pathoma - GOAT. Understanding pathophys and being able to apply it is the most important part of this test. Watch through once with highlights and notes and then save time by skimming through book.
UWORLD - GOAT runner up. Do it once through when you start dedicated, then do your wrong ones
Boards and beyond - great for filling in gaps where you feel weak
Sketchy - Great for micro, don’t waste your time on the pharm videos (I just used lange flash cards or something)
Kaplan Qbank - most underrated resource in the game. Ignore the healthcare/insurance/fishbone analysis questions.
Bros/Zanki - I’ll never get why people use these resources. They do not help you learn to apply information to unique scenarios/questions and really only help you gain a surface understanding of important topics. Massive waste of time.

I’ll try to answer questions but can’t promise anything as I don’t frequent this place too often. Also whoever said PDs don’t interview 275+ers - i hope that ain’t true!

"Bro, I work out for 5mins twice a week and got a six pack by the second month! ...what do you mean I have a high metabolism? ...why do you think you won't get the same six pack if you do the same thing as me? ...what's wrong with you??"

Also, with all due respect, Zanki has completely changed the game and that will be apparent in this year's curve and scores. Congratulations on your score though!

 

[canadasmvp]

"Bro, I work out for 5mins twice a week and got a six pack by the second month! ...what do you mean I have a high metabolism? ...why do you think you won't get the same six pack if you do the same thing as me? ...what's wrong with you??"

Also, with all due respect, Zanki has completely changed the game and that will be apparent in this year's curve and scores. Congratulations on your score though!

I don’t think im naturally smarter than most of the other people in my class who ended up scoring well and I think your cynicism is going to end up wasting you a lot of time that could be spent enjoying life. Step 1 is not a test based on memorization it blows my mind that people don’t understand this. And with all due respect to you, Zanki has not “changed the game” - it’s just another resource in a growing list of them. I happen to think that rote memorization is a poor way to study for Step 1 and to learn medicine in general but to each their own.

But also lol, don’t know what you want other than validation of your schedule if you’re going to shoot down all advice as anecdotal, especially from someone who was able to get a score that you’re looking for.

 

[canadasmvp]

Most probably you are one one that guys with super memory that memorize minutaes on the 2nd try and not after 5-8 repeats, playing overwatch on dedicated, saying that bros is nothing ... people must be afraid of advises like this because most of the people have problems remembering that much details and find bros/zanki saving their lifes, which is the case for me. I bet that your IQ level is beyond 2 standart deviations. I had a classmate like you, he/she was studying for a 3-4 hours a day and being ranked number 1 for 6 years in a row, those are just phenomenal people that has nothing to do with the majority of reality. I personally has done uworld 3 times with all wrong/rights, + kaplan + all the nbme's and in the end I scored 240 on NBME 18 which is not bad. I can easily understand any concept but my memory is not strong enough, that was the reason for so many repeats.

While I wish I was, im not smarter than plenty of people in my class who I outscored. Be wary of it sure, this is an online anonymous forum you should take that into account with all advice you read. I personally believe that you should take time to relax and recharge during dedicated because you don’t absorb nearly as much if you’re banging your head against a desk all day, exhausted from the grind. That being said everybody has different strategies Im just providing advice on the one that worked for me.

 

[Surgeria]

While I wish I was, im not smarter than plenty of people in my class who I outscored. Be wary of it sure, this is an online anonymous forum you should take that into account with all advice you read. I personally believe that you should take time to relax and recharge during dedicated because you don’t absorb nearly as much if you’re banging your head against a desk all day, exhausted from the grind. That being said everybody has different strategies Im just providing advice on the one that worked for me.

Just curious how much you had on your nbme 18 and uwsa 2? Considering the crazy curve of NBME 18, and if you scored 250 + on it which I bet you did, you of course are smarter than the wast majority in the applicant pool and it is not bad, but your advises carry a tone about the "easiness" of the exam, kind of I relaxed but outscored everybody and scored 275 ... In order to score that high, it doesn't mean much how much your learned, first of all you must be personality that makes close to 0 silly mistakes, and you can't become that person, your must be born like that. I played basketball for 7 years, but I would never get in to national team, I just have no that great talent. This exam is not only about the knowledge, I had great preparation, but I can't pass 240 on NBME 18 even though the curve is harsh. There is always limit. I trust that everyone can get 235 on this exam is the preparation goes well, but even i was given 5 years to prepare I would never score 275, like I would never get in to national team. Advises can make or break someone ...

 

[Lannister]

Weird question, but is there a version of First Aid that's like... Less shiny? I can't see what I'm reading half the time because of the glare, and it's driving me insane.

 

[canadasmvp]

Just curious how much you had on your nbme 18 and uwsa 2? Considering the crazy curve of NBME 18, and if you scored 250 + on it which I bet you did, you of course are smarter than the wast majority in the applicant pool and it is not bad, but your advises carry a tone about the "easiness" of the exam, kind of I relaxed but outscored everybody and scored 275 ... In order to score that high, it doesn't mean much how much your learned, first of all you must be personality that makes close to 0 silly mistakes, and you can't become that person, your must be born like that. I played basketball for 7 years, but I would never get in to national team, I just have no that great talent. This exam is not only about the knowledge, I had great preparation, but I can't pass 240 on NBME 18 even though the curve is harsh. There is always limit. I trust that everyone can get 235 on this exam is the preparation goes well, but even i was given 5 years to prepare I would never score 275, like I would never get in to national team. Advises can make or break someone ...

If I remember correctly I got a 253 on NBME 18 which was about 3 weeks out from exam and a 263 on UWSA which was about a week out. I think my success had more to do with the resources I decided to focus on, and choosing to stop studying subjects which I felt comfortable with. Sorry if Im coming across as it being easy - I definitely worked hard during dedicated it’s just my personal philosophy that people work themselves up much more over this test than is necessary.

 

[GoljansRightBicep]

Weird question, but is there a version of First Aid that's like... Less shiny? I can't see what I'm reading half the time because of the glare, and it's driving me insane.

2018 is notably less shiny and pens seem to smear less on it, FWIW. High-yield update in FA2018 for sho.

Sent from my SM-G935U using SDN mobile

 

[Lannister]

Which year are you using? I just got 18' and the pages seem more matte to me (also ran into issues with reflection like you).

2018 is notably less shiny and pens seem to smear less on it, FWIW. High-yield update in FA2018 for sho.

Sent from my SM-G935U using SDN mobile

I'm using 2016 haha, I've been resisting buying an updated version but if 2018 is less shiny it's definitely worth it. Thanks!

 

[Terence McKenna]

I don’t think im naturally smarter than most of the other people in my class who ended up scoring well and I think your cynicism is going to end up wasting you a lot of time that could be spent enjoying life. Step 1 is not a test based on memorization it blows my mind that people don’t understand this. And with all due respect to you, Zanki has not “changed the game” - it’s just another resource in a growing list of them. I happen to think that rote memorization is a poor way to study for Step 1 and to learn medicine in general but to each their own.

But also lol, don’t know what you want other than validation of your schedule if you’re going to shoot down all advice as anecdotal, especially from someone who was able to get a score that you’re looking for.

The only assertion I am making is that the way you studied for the exam, albeit effective, may not be the optimal way for the average medical student to study.

In regards to Zanki: it has objectively shown to increase people's scores in meaningful ways. This is not just me preaching but by now a widely accepted truth across various subreddits and step 1 discords. I honestly believe we might have a bidomal distribution of step scores for those that use and do not use Zanki to its full potential.

In terms of what I want from my initial post: I didn't ask for anything. I simply stated what I am going to do and how I am going to do it.

It is foolish to assume people can replicate a 275 in 5 weeks. However, it is astronomically more likely to score above a 260 consistently having the current curves and a mature Zanki deck.

 

[bobjonesbob]

I honestly believe we might have a bidomal distribution of step scores for those that use and do not use Zanki to its full potential.

I too have drunk the zanki coolaid but I think this is an exaggeration. Zanki is great but people have been using anki for years. Plus out the 20k or so people who will take Step 1 this year I doubt enough people will be using zanki that there would be any kind of noticeable difference. Supposedly from what I've heard the national average actually dropped a few points this past year despite resources arguably improving every year. If I had to guess I'd say sketchy probably has had the biggest impact on scores in recent years.

 

[lucky01]

I too have drunk the zanki coolaid but I think this is an exaggeration. Zanki is great but people have been using anki for years. Plus out the 20k or so people who will take Step 1 this year I doubt enough people will be using zanki that there would be any kind of noticeable difference. Supposedly from what I've heard the national average actually dropped a few points this past year despite resources arguably improving every year. If I had to guess I'd say sketchy probably has had the biggest impact on scores in recent years.

Gotta agree, sketchy was definitely a game changer.

 

[USMLE_Pro]

Anecdotally, I personally never used sketchy, made my own Anki cards, and scored a 262.

I'd argue that based on everything we know about how adults learn, making your own high yield Anki cards is likely to be far more effective than using a premade deck, but again that's just one girl's opinion

 

[Lannister]

I'd argue that based on everything we know about how adults learn, making your own high yield Anki cards is likely to be far more effective than using a premade deck, but again that's just one girl's opinion

Totally agree. I'm not making my own cards for step just because I don't think I'll have the time/motivation (although I do have decks that I made for each of my end of block exams, so I could potentially use those). But I hate using other peoples' cards. Half the time I don't even know what they're asking, but when I make the cards, I know exactly what I'm asking.

I'm still undecided if I'm going to use Zanki or not. My issue with it is that I need more of the "bigger picture", rather than just one little detail. Like fine, I can memorize that pellagra is caused by niacin deficiency, but if I have no idea what pellagra is then that's not helpful. And sure I could look it up, but at that point, why not just read First Aid? I do get the appeal though, for people who already have a solid understanding of the content and just want to focus on memorizing the details.

 

[Terence McKenna]

I too have drunk the zanki coolaid but I think this is an exaggeration. Zanki is great but people have been using anki for years. Plus out the 20k or so people who will take Step 1 this year I doubt enough people will be using zanki that there would be any kind of noticeable difference. Supposedly from what I've heard the national average actually dropped a few points this past year despite resources arguably improving every year. If I had to guess I'd say sketchy probably has had the biggest impact on scores in recent years.

Sketchy has become literally mandatory and it's only been out for four years. Zanki is something that most medical students will know about in a year, and will become staple in 4-5 years or less. It's amazing that such kind of a resource is essentially free, and I hope they don't run into copyright issues going forward.

 

[QueenJames]

Just to point out everybody's advice for STEP PREP DIFFERS and WON'T APPLY TO EVERYBODY.

I stopped doing anki. Started actively reading and memorizing each page in FA. Score in USMLE-rx and kaplan qbanks shot up from ~50% to 70-80% in 100 questions blocks after I am done reading everything.

Time is the limiting factor here.

I plan on covering FA 2-3 more times along with Uworld next month.... but we will see how that goes.

And also...

thank baby Jesus for Google and Wikipedia.

 

[Newyawk]

@canadasmvp I guess it also depends on what people put into their Anki decks. Are they filling it up with cards that say "SAH" and "worst headache of patients life" or are they actually putting real pathophys and meaningful info in there? When you say "step isn't rote memorization", I would 100% back that argument. Im sure, however, that Anki can be used to reinforce the material that allows you to conceptualize medicine and approach novel situations. IMO the absolute best way to achieve this level of understanding is doing questions. I don't see why anyone would do Anki cards instead of questions for this reason.

 

[USMLE_Pro]

Just to point out everybody's advice for STEP PREP DIFFERS and WON'T APPLY TO EVERYBODY.

I stopped doing anki. Started actively reading and memorizing each page in FA. Score in USMLE-rx and kaplan qbanks shot up from ~50% to 70-80% in 100 questions blocks after I am done reading everything.

Time is the limiting factor here.

I plan on covering FA 2-3 more times along with Uworld next month.... but we will see how that goes.

And also...

thank baby Jesus for Google and Wikipedia.

Our strategies definitely did differ! I cross-referenced First Aid in a very particular way (feel free to PM for details) when studying (such that I didn't touch a significant portion of FA), but I didn't actually read FA until the last 3 days before my exam! I tend to discourage people from just memorizing FA, and it'd be much more promising if you saw a bump in actual practice test scores (not in Qbanks as you reference, which are a totally different story, especially if you're doing them by subject).

@canadasmvp I guess it also depends on what people put into their Anki decks. Are they filling it up with cards that say "SAH" and "worst headache of patients life" or are they actually putting real pathophys and meaningful info in there? When you say "step isn't rote memorization", I would 100% back that argument. Im sure, however, that Anki can be used to reinforce the material that allows you to conceptualize medicine and approach novel situations. IMO the absolute best way to achieve this level of understanding is doing questions. I don't see why anyone would do Anki cards instead of questions for this reason.

Newyawk, I have to mostly agree with you here, the content of your Anki cards really matters, and Qbanks and practice tests are the MOST important resource. However, for Step 1 I do feel like flashcards can really help, particularly because there's so many minutiae that are easy to confuse even when you use good mnemonics (e.g., chromosomal translocations in the lymphomas). For Step 2 CK in contrast, I didn't use flashcards at all and only did questions, and ended up doing better on CK (262 vs 281) , but I think that reflects the fact that different strategies are needed for each exam.

 

[Midnight Schemes]

Started my dedicated study time by taking an NBME cold, then going through FA once fully, then took another NBME just to see where I'm at post-FA. Wondering, how much do people normally go up after doing FA once? Haven't touched UW yet.

 

[sahell]

Started my dedicated study time by taking an NBME cold, then going through FA once fully, then took another NBME just to see where I'm at post-FA. Wondering, how much do people normally go up after doing FA once? Haven't touched UW yet.

FA didn't help much with my scores, but I had a jump of 15 points from 248 to 263 because of UW. UW helped train my analytical approach to questions immensely. FA is purely facts and a I found a lot of the facts wouldn't register unless I had seen a question on it, Eg. RCC arises from PCT cells. FA is a great last minute resource if it's annotated well, but I feel it's overhyped.

 

[USMLE_Pro]

FA didn't help much with my scores, but I had a jump of 15 points from 248 to 263 because of UW. UW helped train my analytical approach to questions immensely. FA is purely facts and a I found a lot of the facts wouldn't register unless I had seen a question on it, Eg. RCC arises from PCT cells. FA is a great last minute resource if it's annotated well, but I feel it's overhyped.

Totally agree, I literally skimmed FA the 3 days before my test. Practice by doing what the actual exam tests: questions!

 

[Surgeria]

FA didn't help much with my scores, but I had a jump of 15 points from 248 to 263 because of UW. UW helped train my analytical approach to questions immensely. FA is purely facts and a I found a lot of the facts wouldn't register unless I had seen a question on it, Eg. RCC arises from PCT cells. FA is a great last minute resource if it's annotated well, but I feel it's overhyped.

248 without uworld, people makes me think "wow", then we have a parade of little Einsteins here.

 

[831929]

anyone on here using USMLERx? Still have about 4-5 organ system blocks to learn but getting an average of 60% on the questions. Wondering if that is okay so far prior to dedicated.

 

[Elessar]

anyone on here using USMLERx? Still have about 4-5 organ system blocks to learn but getting an average of 60% on the questions. Wondering if that is okay so far prior to dedicated.

Depends, when is your test? Which organ systems have you not done (and are you doing random blocks including those systems)?

 

[831929]

Depends, when is your test? Which organ systems have you not done (and are you doing random blocks including those systems)?

No I'm just doing questions from stuff we covered so far. However, some information doesn't overlap (like some meds since we haven't covered neuro yet).

Should I be doing just random blocks? Didn't think I should do questions on topics we haven't covered yet.

 

[USMLE_Pro]

No I'm just doing questions from stuff we covered so far. However, some information doesn't overlap (like some meds since we haven't covered neuro yet).

Should I be doing just random blocks? Didn't think I should do questions on topics we haven't covered yet.

Random, always, no exceptions. The test is in a random order, study in a random order.

 

[68PGunner]

No I'm just doing questions from stuff we covered so far. However, some information doesn't overlap (like some meds since we haven't covered neuro yet).

Should I be doing just random blocks? Didn't think I should do questions on topics we haven't covered yet.

A lot of people do Uworld on the organ that they're studying as a learning tool like me. Then, you redo the quests in April or May on your 2nd pass in random mode. If you have time, you can do another qbank on random mode.

 

[bobjonesbob]

Anyone have strong thoughts on the optimal length for dedicated? I'm looking at dates in the 4.5-5.5 weeks time frame. Originally I was thinking of erring on the side of longer rather than shorter but after talking to a few of my friends who did well they all seemed to think they peaked around 4-4.5 weeks and that they only started to lose momentum on the back end.

Shooting for a score in the 260s. Have been doing cumulative review since M1 so I hope to be in a good spot once dedicated starts.

 

[USMLE_Pro]

Anyone have strong thoughts on the optimal length for dedicated? I'm looking at dates in the 4.5-5.5 weeks time frame. Originally I was thinking of erring on the side of longer rather than shorter but after talking to a few of my friends who did well they all seemed to think they peaked around 4-4.5 weeks and that they only started to lose momentum on the back end.

Shooting for a score in the 260s. Have been doing cumulative review since M1 so I hope to be in a good spot once dedicated starts.

I did 7 weeks but often took weekends off/traveled a little. I did peak at 5 weeks, but definitely used those extra 2 weeks. I didn’t start studying prior to dedicated though