Official 2021 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[slowthai]

Goal weight: 250+ lbs
I've been eating a lot everyday so I think I have a chance

On a serious note, we just might be the last ones to take it pre-P/F. Let's rock.

Edit: As of today, we ARE the last ones to take it pre-P/F.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DocLevi]

Thinking of putting together custom tailored small study packages for STEP 1. Wanna help other students and maybe make some $ in these trying times. Let me know what you guys think!

 

[fldoctorgirl]

lmao ok so i was bored reading through these posts and just wanted to point out how crazy it is that we actually had the same exact NBME baseline score, overall Rx percent, overall UWorld %, NBME 18 score and were 1 point from each other on the real deal. Lets do the same for Step 2 260+ baby lets get itt!!

That is pretty wild. Hell yeahhh, let's go!

 

[greentealeaves]

How do you guys approach questions? Do you read the vignette / question in entirety, come up with a diagnosis, have some guess as to the answer and then look at the answer choices? Do you read the answer choices first and then the vignette / question? Do you read the question first, then the vignette, then the answer choices? Or maybe some other approach.

I'm wondering what approach leads you guys to the best performance.

 

[ExplodingUlcers]

254 scorer here. Save it for dedicated. This is extemely important as it simulates the real deal the best. You want to be thinking the way UWorld makes you think leading right up to the exam. Best advice is to have done another qbank before Uworld. this way starting UW during dedicated is completely manageable. Doing UW 2x is less effective imo because youll remember questions. If you want to do UWorld again do your incorrects only

Good stuff. In that case, I'll probably just do a block of uworld for assessment purposes before my finals since they're nbme and focus on amboss as a burner bank the rest of the time. Would you say your performance on uworld blocks varied considerably?

 

[Deecee2DO]

Good stuff. In that case, I'll probably just do a block of uworld for assessment purposes before my finals since they're nbme and focus on amboss as a burner bank the rest of the time. Would you say your performance on uworld blocks varied considerably?

Overall my performance on UWorld did vary considerably but toward the middle/end of dedicated i was hitting low to high 80s on most blocks on my first pass. At the beginning of dedicated my scores were mostly in the 70s but I some days I would pop a 58 and others a an 87 so it would be super variable. Even leading up to my exam some days I would get that occasional high 60s and would be pissed but thats part of the nature of UWorld. Sometimes a block will hit your weaknesses and its frustrating so just learn and move on and dont get too hung up on scores when you first start

 

[Deecee2DO]

How do you guys approach questions? Do you read the vignette / question in entirety, come up with a diagnosis, have some guess as to the answer and then look at the answer choices? Do you read the answer choices first and then the vignette / question? Do you read the question first, then the vignette, then the answer choices? Or maybe some other approach.

I'm wondering what approach leads you guys to the best performance.

Prompt first at the bottom of the stem aka what are they asking you. Then skim the question for the chief complaint, PE findings, labs/dx tests/imaging. Then look at the answers then narrow down ddx using the supporting info like symptomatology pattern, epidemiology (age, gender, race, setting, PMH, PSH, geographic location etc). I did this for every question. Scored a 254

 

[fldoctorgirl]

How do you guys approach questions? Do you read the vignette / question in entirety, come up with a diagnosis, have some guess as to the answer and then look at the answer choices? Do you read the answer choices first and then the vignette / question? Do you read the question first, then the vignette, then the answer choices? Or maybe some other approach.

I'm wondering what approach leads you guys to the best performance.

This will vary by person so it's really about experimenting when you're doing different qbanks and doing what works for you! What I do is read the question, then skim the answer choices so that I know things to look out for in the stem. If the answer choices aren't just listing diseases but describing things, I'll sometimes try and define each answer choice to myself. So like "okay, this would apply to minimal change disease" or something like that. Then I'll go in and read the stem, and highlight important things. Age/demographics are good things to look out for, CC, any notable PE or lab findings etc. Then I'll go back and look at the answers and pick one.

 

[slowthai]

Motivational bump

The name of the guy on the other end of that blast is Step 1. LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!

 

[Deecee2DO]

Motivational bump

View attachment 324396

The name of the guy on the other end of that blast is Step 1. LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!

LFFGG @slowthai my fuggin boiii

 

[fldoctorgirl]

Motivational bump

View attachment 324396

The name of the guy on the other end of that blast is Step 1. LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!

Can't wait to see you crush it

 

[TarpolianDynamite]

Registered for Step 1 today. May 17th. All the weight hit me at one time, now I just have to chip away at it!

 

[CJhooper123]

Registered for Step 1 today. May 17th. All the weight hit me at one time, now I just have to chip away at it!

Registered for the same date! Let’s get it

 

[slowthai]

So guiseeee lemme tell you about a little thingamajiggit mmkay????

I've tried using a PS4 controller before but it was kinda heavy and my thumb joint started hurting because PS4 controllers aren't ergonomic. This lightweight controller fits nicely in my hand. I use it with just one hand. My neck, wrist, elbow, and rear end pain/discomfort has vanished because I can sit in any position I like as I study.

Oh yeah, shout out to the guys over at /r/medicalschoolanki for the recommendation.

 

[CJhooper123]

Soo... does NBME #20 seem like a reasonable "first practice test"?
I'm 6 months out, but wanted to take a pre-UWorld test to get a baseline and feel for the exam? How many, total practice exams, are considered average leading up to Step 1?

 

[Deecee2DO]

Soo... does NBME #20 seem like a reasonable "first practice test"?
I'm 6 months out, but wanted to take a pre-UWorld test to get a baseline and feel for the exam? How many, total practice exams, are considered average leading up to Step 1?

Dude NBME 20 is HARD AF! it predicted me like 30 points under my actual score and i was like 5-6 weeks out. NBME 21 is a fair baseline its hard but not impossible and its not super super predictive like the others (which you want to save). Save NBME 24, 18, UWSA2, UWSA1, and Free 120 for the last month before you take the exam. Good luck my friend

 

[CJhooper123]

Dude NBME 20 is HARD AF! it predicted me like 30 points under my actual score and i was like 5-6 weeks out. NBME 21 is a fair baseline its hard but not impossible and its not super super predictive like the others (which you want to save). Save NBME 24, 18, UWSA2, UWSA1, and Free 120 for the last month before you take the exam. Good luck my friend

Appreciate that! Anticipating a pretty low score w/ the first test no matter the form haha.

 

[slowthai]

Dude NBME 20 is HARD AF! it predicted me like 30 points under my actual score and i was like 5-6 weeks out. NBME 21 is a fair baseline its hard but not impossible and its not super super predictive like the others (which you want to save). Save NBME 24, 18, UWSA2, UWSA1, and Free 120 for the last month before you take the exam. Good luck my friend

Lol yeah I heard it was overly hard but I'd rather get smashed early on and only have up to go from there haha.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Lol yeah I heard it was overly hard but I'd rather get smashed early on and only have up to go from there haha.

I feel that. 21 is the best baseline NBME in my opinion but either works!

 

[Peaches44]

When does everyone plan on taking their first NBME? Our last system is respiratory which doesn't finish until March which makes it tough to get a solid baseline before dedicated.

 

[slowthai]

When does everyone plan on taking their first NBME? Our last system is respiratory which doesn't finish until March which makes it tough to get a solid baseline before dedicated.

I was going to take it sometime in December, but my plans have changed, so I'll most likely be taking it early-mid January.

 

[CJhooper123]

I was going to take it sometime in December, but my plans have changed, so I'll most likely be taking it early-mid January.

Same situation here. Wanted to do this weekend but realized a little review wouldn’t be a bad idea

 

[greentealeaves]

What are you guys doing on a typical day at this point? Where are you guys in your studies?

 

[CJhooper123]

What are you guys doing on a typical day at this point? Where are you guys in your studies?

Right now, it's Anki reviews, practice questions, and review mistakes from prior practice questions. I'm looking to incorporate a little more content review later in the day - probably going to use FA and pathoma. I wonder if there are other resources people are using for content review.. as FA/Pathoma seems repetitive w/ Zanki.

 

[slowthai]

Right now, it's Anki reviews, practice questions, and review mistakes from prior practice questions. I'm looking to incorporate a little more content review later in the day - probably going to use FA and pathoma. I wonder if there are other resources people are using for content review.. as FA/Pathoma seems repetitive w/ Zanki.

You might be using it already, but amboss is solid.

 

[Peaches44]

What are you guys doing on a typical day at this point? Where are you guys in your studies?

Pretty much the same as above. Anki reviews, some Amboss questions, and more anki reviews lol theyre really starting to pile up at this point. I'm hoping to start reading through the Amboss library based on topics I get wrong in the Qbank I just havent had the time to start doing that yet.

 

[CJhooper123]

You might be using it already, but amboss is solid.

Pretty much the same as above. Anki reviews, some Amboss questions, and more anki reviews lol theyre really starting to pile up at this point. I'm hoping to start reading through the Amboss library based on topics I get wrong in the Qbank I just havent had the time to start doing that yet.

Have only used AMBOSS for questions, but that's a great idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

Had to take a shot of alcohol last week after I unsuspended my final Anking card. What a great feeling to see the deck starting to shrink w/ reviews only.

 

[Peaches44]

Have only used AMBOSS for questions, but that's a great idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

Had to take a shot of alcohol last week after I unsuspended my final Anking card. What a great feeling to see the deck starting to shrink w/ reviews only.

I feel like I'm so close to that point. Just have the respiratory cards to finish plus or minus a couple hundred that I might've missed during previous systems. Still feel like I don't know anything haha, only good at answering questions.

 

[CJhooper123]

How are you guys scoring on your QBanks. I’m basically ignoring class and doing questions all day. So far I’ve completed Amboss (71% correct), Kaplan (77% correct), and RX (80% correct). I’m about to start UWorld. I’m taking the test in 6 months. Shooting for an uber competitive specialty so I’m targeting a 260+. Worried that my Qbank scores might be a little low compared to what I’ve seen on Reddit from 260 / 270 scorers and thinking about what I can do to boost my performance.

Congrats on the progress! Tbh, I think those are pretty solid percentages. I'm not aiming as high as you but I'm around 80% Rx, 72% Kaplan, and 66% AMBOSS w/ an upward trend since M1.

Most of the M3s I've spoken to have said that Q-bank percentages correlate poorly w/ step score (although not entirely sure). I'm really going to judge where I'm at w/ U-World and NBME's percentages.

 

[4thtimeretaker]

How many TOTAL Q's a day are you guys aiming to do between Rx, Kaplan, Amboss? I'm having a hard time getting over 20 a day, I usually try to do around at least 5-10 daily. Some days I obviously forget.

 

[cptsam]

i do a minimum of 10 no matter what, more than that I start finding ways to not do them lmao

 

[Aloha_Medicine]

How many TOTAL Q's a day are you guys aiming to do between Rx, Kaplan, Amboss? I'm having a hard time getting over 20 a day, I usually try to do around at least 5-10 daily. Some days I obviously forget.

I find it useful to schedule how many cards you'd have to do daily in order to finish the q bank by x date. E.g. if you have 500 Rx questions left and want to finish the q bank by the new year, then you'd schedule yourself to do ~27 a day. I find myself more motivated when there is that end goal!

 

[Aloha_Medicine]

How are you guys scoring on your QBanks. I’m basically ignoring class and doing questions all day. So far I’ve completed Amboss (71% correct), Kaplan (77% correct), and RX (80% correct). I’m about to start UWorld. I’m taking the test in 6 months. Shooting for an uber competitive specialty so I’m targeting a 260+. Worried that my Qbank scores might be a little low compared to what I’ve seen on Reddit from 260 / 270 scorers and thinking about what I can do to boost my performance.

I would kill for thise percentages 6 months out! Care to share how you've been approaching qs so far?

 

[cptsam]

Question for all you anki peeps,

ever heard of anyone using it and NOT doing well? My q bank scores aren't as high as I would like them to be which is why I raise this question

 

[slowthai]

Question for all you anki peeps,

ever heard of anyone using it and NOT doing well? My q bank scores aren't as high as I would like them to be which is why I raise this question

Definitely heard of that before. The way I would approach it is, why am I getting things wrong? Am I forgetting things? I would focus on increasing my retention rate. Am I not understanding? I would watch BnB. Is it test taking skills? I would read up on test taking strategies.

 

[CJhooper123]

Question for all you anki peeps,

ever heard of anyone using it and NOT doing well? My q bank scores aren't as high as I would like them to be which is why I raise this question

Agree w/ slowthai.

I’m not knocking it out of the park w/ q-banks, but I usually keep a log of my mistakes and review it once a week or so. I’ve seen an upward trend w/ % correct. Good luck!

 

[CJhooper123]

Took NBME 20 as a baseline and ended up in the 230-235 range. Not quite sure where that puts me 6 months out, but hopefully can keep improving. Thought the test was challenging and guessed on a few, but relatively doable.

Does anyone know where I can find explanations for answers? There's a few questions that I wasn't completely sure about and would like some clarification.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Took NBME 20 as a baseline and ended up in the 230-235 range. Not quite sure where that puts me 6 months out, but hopefully can keep improving. Thought the test was challenging and guessed on a few, but relatively doable.

Does anyone know where I can find explanations for answers? There's a few questions that I wasn't completely sure about and would like some clarification.

Dude what? lmao thats absurd man. 20 is one of the hardest ones and underpredicts by like at least 15 points usually. baseline in the 230s is crazy good. Pace urself lol you could hit 260s/70s. For reference my baseline was a 217 i think on NBME 21 6 months out and I hit mid 250s on real thing. Also dont review them its a waste of time just use it to see where youre at

 

[slowthai]

Took NBME 20 as a baseline and ended up in the 230-235 range. Not quite sure where that puts me 6 months out, but hopefully can keep improving. Thought the test was challenging and guessed on a few, but relatively doable.

Does anyone know where I can find explanations for answers? There's a few questions that I wasn't completely sure about and would like some clarification.

Based on everything I've seen, a lot of 250+ scorers had that baseline

 

[Deecee2DO]

Based on everything I've seen, a lot of 250+ scorers had that baseline

Yeah 230s baseline is bonkers good

 

[CJhooper123]

Dude what? lmao thats absurd man. 20 is one of the hardest ones and underpredicts by like at least 15 points usually. baseline in the 230s is crazy good. Pace urself lol you could hit 260s/70s. For reference my baseline was a 217 i think on NBME 21 6 months out and I hit mid 250s on real thing. Also dont review them its a waste of time just use it to see where youre at

Based on everything I've seen, a lot of 250+ scorers had that baseline

Awesome, I hope that's the case. Think I got lucky on a few and need a bigger sample size. Will reserve the rest of NBME's until I start U-World.

For NBME questions I wasn't sure about, is there a resource you guys could recommend for clarification? Seems kind of frustrating NBME doesn't provide explanations for challenging questions.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Awesome, I hope that's the case. Think I got lucky on a few and need a bigger sample size. Will reserve the rest of NBME's until I start U-World.

For NBME questions I wasn't sure about, is there a resource you guys could recommend for clarification? Seems kind of frustrating NBME doesn't provide explanations for challenging questions.

just move on dont worry about them. just start ripping more questions and reviewing those

 

[slowthai]

Awesome, I hope that's the case. Think I got lucky on a few and need a bigger sample size. Will reserve the rest of NBME's until I start U-World.

For NBME questions I wasn't sure about, is there a resource you guys could recommend for clarification? Seems kind of frustrating NBME doesn't provide explanations for challenging questions.

Sorry, wish I could help. All I know is that people usually piece together explanations from various sources online. Wait, now that I think about it, there are one or two reddit pages or websites that focus on them. I'll get back to you on this if/when I find them.

And I know, I just love how they gave explanations for the old NBMEs that are no longer representative smh

 

[slowthai]

HUGE SPOILER WARNING!!!! FACK I SAW THE FIRST QUESTION! CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN UNTIL YOU HIT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Spoiler: BIG SPOILER

Spoiler: BIG SPOILER

This is what I was talking about. I'm pretty sure there's a website too but I forgot what it was called @CJhooper123. It was a replacement for nbmeanswers.com.

Can't comment on the quality of the explanations because I've deliberately avoided looking at the answers lol

 

[Deecee2DO]

HUGE SPOILER WARNING!!!! FACK I SAW THE FIRST QUESTION! CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN UNTIL YOU HIT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Spoiler: BIG SPOILER

Spoiler: BIG SPOILER

This is what I was talking about. I'm pretty sure there's a website too but I forgot what it was called @CJhooper123. It was a replacement for nbmeanswers.com.

Can't comment on the quality of the explanations because I've deliberately avoided looking at the answers lol

This post makes me realize how much ive truly forgotten since taking Step lmao

 

[CJhooper123]

HUGE SPOILER WARNING!!!! FACK I SAW THE FIRST QUESTION! CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN UNTIL YOU HIT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Spoiler: BIG SPOILER

Spoiler: BIG SPOILER

This is what I was talking about. I'm pretty sure there's a website too but I forgot what it was called @CJhooper123. It was a replacement for nbmeanswers.com.

Can't comment on the quality of the explanations because I've deliberately avoided looking at the answers lol

Appreciate that, will definitely check it out. The explanations have gotta be better than what the NBME gives.

 

[slowthai]

Just curious, for the Anki users, do you like to do questions before or after your reviews? I've tried both ways, and funnily enough, I prefer to do them after. I find that when I do them before, my reviews go to crap, and that messes with my retention %. When I do them after my reviews, there's no negative effect on my performance. I also like the fact that I'm seeing all those cards right before the questions. It increases my likelihood of doing better on a block.

 

[CJhooper123]

Just curious, for the Anki users, do you like to do questions before or after your reviews? I've tried both ways, and funnily enough, I prefer to do them after. I find that when I do them before, my reviews go to crap, and that messes with my retention %. When I do them after my reviews, there's no negative effect on my performance. I also like the fact that I'm seeing all those cards right before the questions. It increases my likelihood of doing better on a block.

Usually hit the Anki reviews early in the AM, workout for an hour or so, and do questions after that. I struggle w/ Anki reviews later in the day.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Just curious, for the Anki users, do you like to do questions before or after your reviews? I've tried both ways, and funnily enough, I prefer to do them after. I find that when I do them before, my reviews go to crap, and that messes with my retention %. When I do them after my reviews, there's no negative effect on my performance. I also like the fact that I'm seeing all those cards right before the questions. It increases my likelihood of doing better on a block.

do questions first thing in the morning bc thats when youll take step. Do reviews after. Also stagger the questions where youre not doing questions for the topic youre reviewing at the same time. What i mean by this is lets say youre covering renal with anki cards and content review (BnB pathoma vids anki etc) Week 1 and then Week 2 youre covering cardio and Week 3 GI you should be doing Renal questions during week 2 and cardio questions during week 3 and so-on. this little trick will double your retention

 

[slowthai]

Usually hit the Anki reviews early in the AM, workout for an hour or so, and do questions after that. I struggle w/ Anki reviews later in the day.

Same. I'm faster and more accurate in the morning.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Usually hit the Anki reviews early in the AM, workout for an hour or so, and do questions after that. I struggle w/ Anki reviews later in the day.

Do questions first. simulate test day. You wont be doing questions in the afternoon on test day youll be doing them first thing in the AM. I know its far out but the more you simulate the actual test day the better off youll be. Super important