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USMLE Step 1 Experience – 246 – American Medical Student MS2
First time here on SDN. I’ve been lurking on SDN for a while seeking comfort in reading about other people’s success. I really hope I can do the same for others.
NBME 12: 200
NBME 13: 215
UWSA 1: 237
NBME 15: 217
NBME 16: 225
UWSA 2: 239
NBME 17: 234
NBME 18: 236
Step 1: 246 March 9th, 2017
By the grace of God, I achieved a score that I don’t deserve. Anything can happen if you work hard and sincerely hope that you will be successful.
My study period started on Dec 26th, 2016 and ended on March 8th, 2017. I studied around 8 hours a day and took Sundays off or had a light review. The only resources I used were Uworld (did it 1.5 times), FA (read it probably twice in its totality), Sketchy pharm and micro, BRS physio, Pathoma and Boards and Beyond. Pathoma videos are key for mastering path and Boards and Beyond for everything else that Pathoma doesn’t cover (such as biochem and physio). Achieving a 240+, in my opinion, is doable and anyone can do it if they study smart. The most important thing to do during your dedicated study period is to keep your resources thin and to really master Uworld. Uworld is the most important resource you have. It is much more important than FA and knowing it well is the key to breaking the 240 mark.
Good luck everyone and please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
STEP 1 EXPERIENCE – 260 – Dr Vashistha (Indian IMG)
USMLE Step 1 Experience - 260
USMLE Step 1 Experience – 260
HI , EVERBODY . I AM KIRTIVARDHAN VASHISTHA FROM SMS MEDICAL COLLEGE , JAIPUR , RAJASTHAN , INDIA . HERE IS MY EXPERIENCE IN A SHORT FORMAT FOLLOWED BY A LONG ONE , I HOPE ITS HELPFUL TO YOU
PREP DURATION :- 10 MONTHS , FROM MAY 2016
SUBJECTS :- ANATOMY – KAPLAN —> THEN FA + U WORLD
PHYSIO – KAPLAN —> THEN FA + UW BCHEM – KAPLAN —> THEN FA + UW MICRO – FA + UW IMMUNO – KAPLAN —> THEN FA + UW GENETICS – KAPLAN ( WEAK IN FA AND UW) —> FA + UW PHARMA – KAPLAN —> FA + UW PATHOLOGY – GOLJAN + FA + UW BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE – KAPLAN —> FA + UW + 100 CASES
BY CONRAD + HY ETHICS BIOSTATS – KAPLAN —> FA + UW AND UW BIOSTATS REVIEW
SCORES :-
UW FIRST PASS AVG :- 77 % SECOND (ONLY 1/4TH) :- 92 % JAN 3RD – NBME 16 – 30 ques wrong – 232 FEB 7TH – NBME 17 – 17 ques wrong – 248 FEB 25TH – NBME 18 – 16 ques wrong – 255 MARCH 9TH – UWSA 1 (85%) AND 2 (90 %) – 264 AND 264 SAMPLE QUESTIONS FROM USMLE – 93 % , A DAY BEFORE MY EXAM MARCH 20TH – STEP 1 , RESULT ON APRIL 12TH – 260
CLOSEST FORMS TO THE EXAM :- NBME 18 , UW SA & U WORLD Q BANK !
NOW IN A MORE DETAILED WAY :-
First of all , its important for everybody to realize that uploading experiences for others to read isn’t a way to show off your high scores , i have already done that on my Facebook / INSTA and with my family and friends . I have read tons of experiences whilst preparing for my step and found them immensely helpful and my heart was itching to help my fellow mates on this forum who have been tremendously helpful .
For ones who are going to start , you will feel lost , hopeless and , especially so if you have been an average student (just like me) . The point here is to work continuously for the goal you want to achieve
i started with kaplan subject wise with videos in early may during my internship year . it took me 4 months , which by any standard would give a turtle a run for its money .
i regret wasting so much time in kaplan , but after that i switched to u world and fa ,annotating extra info from uw into fa, in september with my friend and thats when the real preparation started for me.
Make sure you understand everything there is , on u world and fa , use multiple resources if a particular topic is making you cringe . For instance , you tube videos , dit , google images have been immensely helpful in a deeper understanding of the step 1 content.
As you move forward in your preparation , you would realize that the way you look or understand something has an added dimension to it , which will make you feel satisfied and you would be more confident about your preparation .
i could barely do 20-30 ques/day initially , and i managed to complete uw by mid december . After that i thought of starting with nbme’s and gave myself 25 days to complete it ( which i couldn’t ) gave 16 on 3rd jan – got a 232 , it was the lowest point in my step preparation . i expected myself to be at least a 240 .
i took extension for my period from nov – dec – jan to feb – march – april and gave myself another month for NBME 17. While doing that i worked on my weaknesses and tried to memorize facts , especially that of micro and bchem.
Gave 17 on 7th feb – got a 248 , was relieved .
On 25th feb i gave 18 , and got a 255 , this form was the closest to the real exam . All others are pretty vague in my view point .
I kept revising fa , did random questions from random resources (for e.g. :- fa q and a and usmlerx ) in last two weeks and gave uw sa 1 and 2 on the same day to get the feeling of the exam .
On the exam day , most important thing is to have a strong mindset and its not hard to get that . i’v had panic attacks in almost all the nbme’s i gave and i was considering seeking professional help for that .
But on the exam day , i told myself that i did whatever i could and now is the time to add 2-3 to your score and the only way i could do it is to face the exam headstrong .
#USMLE Step1 Experience 261
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Dr:Hipocrates Medici
Prep time:
11 months
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My goal score :
starting was 240
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Phase1 :
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(I was reading only experiences of those who scored 240s thinking above that is for nerds)
I have done Kaplan Biochemistry, physiology, microbiology(sketchy microbiology), immunology and pharmacology(along with sketchy pharmacology) plus pathoma along with firstaid
Then I did in December 2020
Online nbme 13 to 19 as they were retiring : 236-24
This gave me the confidence to start reading experiences of people scoring 250s and 260s.
(Bnb was mentioned alot, anki and uworld).
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Phase2 :
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After that I started in January boards and beyond in the morning and 40 questions of online uworld random in the afternoon my average starting was 82 percent and finished 86% (93 percentile) total.
Since anatomy was my weak area I started
->(anki Dorian )during this time early morning during my walking time.
->And biochemistry pixiorize (which helped alot in the real deal)
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Self Assessments:
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⏯While doing this I was doing nbmes every two weeks intially then every week.
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22/01/2021 nbme 20 offline :(36 incorrects) 241🤔
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29/01/2021 nbme 21 offline: (24 incorrects)
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254,👍 07/02/2021 nbme 22 offline: (17 incorrects) 260👍,
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Late February amboss self assessment step 1: 254😁
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I was only doing uworld random in between with bnb and fa.
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30/05/2021 nbme 23 offline:( 27 incorrects) 251
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05/06/2021 nbme 18 offline: (10 incorrects) 263 ,😁
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12/06/2021 nbme 24 offline: (16 incorrects)
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261😁, 26/06/2021 nbme 25 offline: (13 incorrects) 263😁
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19/06/2021 nbme 27 offline: (12 incorrects) 263 😁
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03/07/2021 UWSA1 online: (21 incorrects) 269 😁
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10/07/2021 nbme 28 offline: (19 incorrects) 256 🥺
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18/07/2021 nbme 29 offline: (21 incorrects) 253 😤
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22/07/2021 nbme 30 offline 8 days before the step 1 exam: (12 incorrects) 263 👍👍😁
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24/07/2021 Uwsa2 and free 120 online together to simulate exam one week before the exam: 262 and 97%
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Last month before my exam :
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my online uworld 6 months subscription expired after I did wrongs and marked plus 10 percent second round (my average was 96% I was remembering them I guess).I did amboss 2700 qs qbank system wise (started with 78% and finished with 86% (97 percentile them 98 percentile respectively) after it was suggested by my dear friend Hisham Harty (thanks bro)
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For biostatistics ->
in addition to bnb and Dr. Randy Neil, I did uworld biostatistics 100 questions offline and amboss. For communication I used uworld and amboss, not one ethics question on exam but I have done Dr conrad Fischer's ethics 100 cases.
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My study schedule:
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Mornings Wake up, walk plus anki Dorian
Followed by bnb plus fa then lunch
and In the afternoon 40 questions of uworld and review in the afternoon
I Stopped studying after 7 pm.
Every first day of my study week assessments every especially last week's before the exam.
I watched biostatistics Dr Randy Neil's adv
I studied 6 days per week with one day total off thanks to my wife for being patient with me and supporting me, I love you 💕💕💕 God bless you. 〰️〰️〰️〰️
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Last week of the exam
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I did nbme 30, uwsa2 and free 120, revised pathoma 123 using pdf only plus fa, general principles amboss (300 questions).
three days before i went to Prometric center checked the place, the parking and their requirements. Thanks to the advice of my friend Wei Jun Lee.
#USMLE Step1 Experience 262
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Dr: Etebong Augustine
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Background:
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Non- US IMG
Real deal 262
Goal 270
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Introduction to Preparation
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started my preparation august 2018, by building a solid foundation
I read Goljan rapid review pathology and started doing zanki. The mistake I made during this period was that I was brute forcing my way through cards only(200 new cards a day), no qbanks and I hate watching videos. The exception to my video phobia was sketchy which I watched most of. Once you watch sketchy and do the deck, trust me microbiology becomes a joke. By december I took the cbse and scored 240.
That December i started doing amboss, my first block on amboss i scored 56%, i had to buckle up, i finished amboss with a 72% in February but by January I started making my way through the nbmes from nbme 1 to 24, and the qbank usmlerx because i am a completionist.
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Self Assessments
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NBME 1- 183/200
NBME 2 - 180/200
NBME 3- 190/200
NBME 4 - 185/200
NBME 5-184/200
NBME 6- 179/200
NBME 7-188/200
nbme 11-187/200
NBME 12- 189/200
NBME 13- 191/200
NBME 15- 178/200
NBME 16- 188/200
NBME 17- 191/200
NBME 19- 192/200
NBME 22- 183/200
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I started uworld september 2019, since it was only 2180. I did 2 blocks a day plus my anki reviews and i was done with the first pass in a month with a 93%. When i finished uworld, i read through the biostatistics section of kaplan behavioral(this is an underrated resource) since this was a weakness for me.
I did UWSA 1 and scored a 275(the curve is very kind) although the test had some vague concepts i had never heard of.
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As a completionist i started beating my way through kaplan qbank october and part of november then i did nbme 24.
NBME 24-257 nov 23 2019 online
I got depressed and slacked off studying because i couldnt schedule my exam, on december 28 i decided to take an nbme for testing sake
NBME 23 -244 online december 28(the score drop shocked me).
2020 COVID happened countries locked down so no hope, i just kept up with my anki reviews and infact started studying for step 2 since borders did not open for the country i was planning to take the exam, and you know travelling during covid is hectic.
february 2021 i took the amboss self assessment and scored 264
April 2021 i got my scheduling permit, i began taking my prep seriously,
May 20th i did Usmlerx assessment and scored 279.
i flew through most of amboss since it was a 2nd pass and finished with a 92%,
Meanwhile i purchased uworld, and shocker they had added 1500 questions making it a 3500qs qbank.
I did Uworld along with my anki reviews and bought my first of the new nbmes;
nbme 26 on the 16th of june and i scored 263
All of a sudden Trinidad announced they were opening their border 17th of July, I immediately booked my exam.
At the beginning of july, I had like 2000 uworld questions to do, 5 nbmes, UWSA 2 and free 120. Do not procrastinate like me
I did nbme 28 on the 25th of July and scored 261 then i focused on finishing uworld which I did on August 30th with a 94% and around 200 incorrect.
For my last week I did
Free 120 on 1st August- 90%
UWSA2- 2nd August 269(biochemistry heavy)
Nbme 30 on 4th august- 266
NBME 25 on 6th august-260 (hardest nbme)
Nbme 27 on 7th august-268
Nbme 29 on 7th august-272
For the nbmes what i noticed was my first instinct was right most of the time, but there is this voice in my head that usually constructed a weird reasoning and i would change my answer, especially for nbme 25 i changed a couple of correct answers to incorrect whereas on 27 and 29 i just let things be.
You have to be prepared to make educated guesses on things you don't know.
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Exam Day
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#USMLESTEP1EXPERIENCE261
By dr : Shreena Gandhi
Hello USMLErs we need your support by like,comments and share .
Let’s make it 200 likes .
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USMLE Step 1 experience
I started my USMLE step 1 journey in June 2019. I had researched everything about the exam, read a lot of experiences, so I had a plan in my mind right from the start.
This is as important as the actual exam preparation because an organised preparation not only saves time but provides more output for the same/ less input.
I had decided to limit myself to a few resources and ace them.
My resources:
1. First aid 2019 – The bible. I did this book at least 6/7 times, and I knew it inside out.
The mistake people often do when approaching the FA is that they try learning everything without understanding the content. Every single word in FA holds a purpose, so if you do not understand what something means, research that topic in depth and clarify that concept. The FB groups were godsend in this respect, I used to post a lot of doubts and everyone is extremely helpful. Another simpler approach is just google it.
2. UW- do not underestimate this resource.
UW is a learning tool. Don’t rush it, it’ll affect the scores towards the end. Solve the Qs diligently, read the entire explanation top to bottom and add the additional points to your FA.
I used to do something called “question hygiene”. What I realised is once you form a habit, it sticks till the very end, even the final board exam. So, don’t solve the questions in a leisurely relaxed mode. I used to sit and solve every block as if it were the real exam, from the first day. I think that helped, because you don’t take questions for granted then and push yourself to look for every possible clue the stem has to offer.
You can take breaks before and after the block or make smaller blocks in the beginning but when you are solving those questions, make sure you’re focused.
3. B&B: One day I hope to go and personally thank Dr. Ryan for making this series. It’s the best! It cut my 1st pass duration into half. It basically takes you through FA, topic by topic and clarifies concepts, and provides additional UW concepts. One drawback, however, if you do not have a strong base, it can be a bit difficult to follow. You can use other resources to supplement.
4. ALL NBMEs: It’s an extremely underestimated resource. I solved all the old NBMEs, they helped me get used to the actual question pattern and trained my mind to use all the information it had in a meaningful way. The newer online ones, I used as an assessment and learning tool, both.
5. Other optional resources:
Sketchy micro (only for bacteria and viruses, absolutely love it)
Anatomy shelf notes (avoidable)
100 cases by Conrad Fischer
Dr. Turco’s Kaplan Biochemistry lectures (very good for forming a good base )
Dr. White’s Kaplan Neuroanatomy lectures
My preparation phase was divided into 5 passes:
1st pass: 5 months
I watched Pathoma and B&B videos (without pathology) and annotated all the points into my FA.
I would go through over the content with my study partner and then I would solve the UW blocks for that system in the same order i.e. embryology anatomy physiology pathology pharmacology. All the extra points I found in UW, I made flashcards out of these.
UW first pass score: 78%
2nd pass: 2.5 months
I now started revising my FA with my flashcards. I annotated all the flashcards into my FA to make it one comprehensive resource for me. You can learn the flashcards separately to save time.
3rd pass: 1.5 months
Now, I started solving all the NBMEs with 3rd pass of my “all annotated” FA. (I don’t remember all the exact NBME scores, but they went all the way from 240s to 260s)
4th pass: 1.5 months
I did my 5th pass with UW mixed and timed blocks. Assessment with weekly NBMEs.
UW second pass score: 94%
5th pass: 1.5 months
Got this additional preparation time due to the COVID-19 lockdown in my country.
I did my 6th pass of FA with weekly NBMEs.
Online NBME scores :
NBME 24 - 241 (4 months out)
Tᕼᗴ ᗰOᔕT ᗪᗴTᗩIᒪᗴᗪ ᗴ᙭ᑭᗴᖇIᗴᑎᑕᗴ YOᑌ ᕼᗩᐯᗴ TO ᖇᗴᗩᗪ !!
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#𝗨𝗦𝗠𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣𝟭 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 253
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ᗪᖇ:𝗬𝗮𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝘆
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IᑎTᖇOᗪᑌᑕTIOᑎ :
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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. I’m Yasmin Aly 5th year med student Egypt.
This is gonna be a long experience but I will try to organise it so you can get to whichever part you want directly. I owe it to this page to give a detailed experience as a way of giving back and keeping the good cycle active. This is also an experience of girl who has extreme exam anxiety and thought USMLE is too big for her but during the exam I was surprisingly calm. Guys never doubt yourselves.
First off I want to thank my family and friends for all their support, wouldn’t have made it without them.
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Reddit predictor: 258
Real deal: 253
Tested: 24/2/2021
Result: 24/3/2021 ( More about the delay later on)
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☯️︎ ︎𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱☟︎:
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started after 3rd year exams but was taking it at a low pace. I started taking it seriously during covid, during my fourth year. So about 1.5 years including breaks of my endrounds and the huge break of 4th year final exams and 1 week of break after. The most important is to condense your studying and not to have long breaks, will cause you to burnout and restarting again to reach the level you were in before the break is devastating. Also not counting 2nd year summer spent doing kaplan cause it was a total waste of time and effort.
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𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 :
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▶️Qbanks:
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➪ UWORLD(2x) and AMBOSS(1.5x)
1-Uworld: UWORLD’s tables and diagrams are the best. Make flashcards out of them and review them continuously. Uworld is gold.
2-Amboss: Their knowledge library is amazing, can’t do it justice; it contains all the info you need to know about usmle and directed towards usmle exam. I believe it’s free; google any topic and write amboss after it.
Do AMBOSS biochemistry and anatomy section extremely important! AMBOSS is a really strong qbank and they keep updating it by the second so all the new exam materials are there.
Focus most on the basic sciences part( pathology, microbiology, immunology and so on) tested heavily on the exam is many different ways.
Please get an online subscription for both UWORLD and AMBOSS till the day of your exam as they keep updating and adding new questions close to the ones being added to the real exam.
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▶️ 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:
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✍️︎︎• First aid 2020 and reviewed some topics of 2021 but they were useless since uworld had them all covered. The magnificence about FA is it’s ability to summarise and hit the highest of yield so you can review the topics more than once. Done 5 times by the time of my exam.
✍️︎︎• Ethics, communication skills, behavioral sciences: Conrad Fischer( loved), Khan ethics( loved), BRS behavioral sciences done with kaplan summer of my second year but was good enough. The most important resource for the new communication skills is uworld, nbmes and amboss in my opinion.
✍️︎︎• Pathoma: Loved dr. Sattar’s way of explaining things and making it look so simple. Loved the videos more than the book.
✍️︎︎• Anatomy was really hard for me but I redid AMBOSS anatomy, read msk from FA multiple times, did dorian anatomy flashcards and finally felt comfortable with it. Shelf notes for anatomy is good but I preferred the flashcard version, dorian.
Tᕼᗴ ᗰOᔕT ᗪᗴTᗩIᒪᗴᗪ ᗴ᙭ᑭᗴᖇIᗴᑎᑕᗴ YOᑌ ᕼᗩᐯᗴ TO ᖇᗴᗩᗪ !!
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#𝗨𝗦𝗠𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣𝟭 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 253
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ᗪᖇ:𝗬𝗮𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗹𝘆
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IᑎTᖇOᗪᑌᑕTIOᑎ :
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بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. I’m Yasmin Aly 5th year med student Egypt.
This is gonna be a long experience but I will try to organise it so you can get to whichever part you want directly. I owe it to this page to give a detailed experience as a way of giving back and keeping the good cycle active. This is also an experience of girl who has extreme exam anxiety and thought USMLE is too big for her but during the exam I was surprisingly calm. Guys never doubt yourselves.
First off I want to thank my family and friends for all their support, wouldn’t have made it without them.
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Reddit predictor: 258
Real deal: 253
Tested: 24/2/2021
Result: 24/3/2021 ( More about the delay later on)
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☯️︎ ︎𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱☟︎:
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started after 3rd year exams but was taking it at a low pace. I started taking it seriously during covid, during my fourth year. So about 1.5 years including breaks of my endrounds and the huge break of 4th year final exams and 1 week of break after. The most important is to condense your studying and not to have long breaks, will cause you to burnout and restarting again to reach the level you were in before the break is devastating. Also not counting 2nd year summer spent doing kaplan cause it was a total waste of time and effort.
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𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 :
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▶️Qbanks:
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➪ UWORLD(2x) and AMBOSS(1.5x)
1-Uworld: UWORLD’s tables and diagrams are the best. Make flashcards out of them and review them continuously. Uworld is gold.
2-Amboss: Their knowledge library is amazing, can’t do it justice; it contains all the info you need to know about usmle and directed towards usmle exam. I believe it’s free; google any topic and write amboss after it.
Do AMBOSS biochemistry and anatomy section extremely important! AMBOSS is a really strong qbank and they keep updating it by the second so all the new exam materials are there.
Focus most on the basic sciences part( pathology, microbiology, immunology and so on) tested heavily on the exam is many different ways.
Please get an online subscription for both UWORLD and AMBOSS till the day of your exam as they keep updating and adding new questions close to the ones being added to the real exam.
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▶️ 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀:
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✍️︎︎• First aid 2020 and reviewed some topics of 2021 but they were useless since uworld had them all covered. The magnificence about FA is it’s ability to summarise and hit the highest of yield so you can review the topics more than once. Done 5 times by the time of my exam.
✍️︎︎• Ethics, communication skills, behavioral sciences: Conrad Fischer( loved), Khan ethics( loved), BRS behavioral sciences done with kaplan summer of my second year but was good enough. The most important resource for the new communication skills is uworld, nbmes and amboss in my opinion.
✍️︎︎• Pathoma: Loved dr. Sattar’s way of explaining things and making it look so simple. Loved the videos more than the book.
✍️︎︎• Anatomy was really hard for me but I redid AMBOSS anatomy, read msk from FA multiple times, did dorian anatomy flashcards and finally felt comfortable with it. Shelf notes for anatomy is good but I preferred the flashcard version, dorian.
#𝚄𝚂𝙼𝙻𝙴 𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙿𝟷 𝙴𝚇𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴 268
𝙳𝚛: 𝙰𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝚅𝚎𝚒𝚍𝚝
𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚙𝟷 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎
𝙻𝚎𝚝’𝚜 𝚐𝚘 💡
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268 Step 1 experience:
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𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗
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Let me start off with a little bit of background about myself. I’m an immigrant who came to the US for college and was lucky enough to be admitted to a “top 5 med school”.
I mention this because I can relate to the struggles of many IMGs who have to learn the language not just to assimilate but also to do well on exams (and succeed in college + med school in my case). But I also have a lot of privilege being at a prestigious US Med School.
Overall I studied for about 2.5 months. My dedicated was about 1.5 months but I watched Pathoma twice over a month before dedicated (during school). I started Pathoma early because although I felt like I had a strong background from my med school courses, I only scored ~190s on my CBSE before dedicated which scared me into starting Pathoma.
That being said, I want to highlight some key takeaways from my experience with Step 1 that might resonate with some of you though keep in mind that as many people mention, not everyone has the same learning style and it’s important to follow what works for you.
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𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 #1:
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Despite all the hate, First Aid is the absolute bible for this test!! The point I want to drive here is that FA is incredibly high yield. Every single sentence, graph, chart or table is fair game and UWorld/the real exam will ask questions that I was directly able to answer from FA (albeit most times, with a little bit of critical thinking). I didn’t mind going through FA and encoding the material page by page but most people find this method agonizing. I personally learned FA this way and didn’t use any Anki decks because it was too complicated for me to figure out. If you are one of those people who hate FA I suggest using Anki or another method to learn all the info in FA. I can’t stress how important it is to learn everything in FA!
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𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 #2:
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UWorld is the most important resource. I attribute 80% of my score to FA and UWorld and 20% to Pathoma (I didn’t use sketchy or Anki) but if I had to choose one resource I would choose UWorld because UWorld will teach you medical knowledge AND test taking skills, whereas FA and Pathoma give you only the former. Importantly, Pay attention to the content on UWorld that isn’t in FA, there’s not a ton but it’s a good amount and it can potentially make a difference. I made flash cards with those extra topics that I went over to add to my medical knowledge. Finally, use this resource for learning, don’t get upset at the # of incorrects you get, only get upset if it’s a concept you’ve already seen a question on and should have learned. Otherwise it’s a learning resource, use it appropriately!
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𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 #3:
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NBMEs 20-25 are NOT predictive, my scores on those NBMEs were between 15-30 points lower than my actual score on the real thing, whereas my avg on UWSA1, UWSA2 and NBME 18 was 265 (3 points from my actual score). Granted, I took the UWSAs and NBME 18 closer to the exam but I stand by this point. Those NBMEs are gone now and I have no experience with the new ones (25-29?)
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𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 #4:
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as with any exam, CONFIDENCE is the most important factor on test day. When I went into the exam, I noticed the questions were different, not the same as UWorld or NBMEs but more similar to UWorld. I was shocked initially but maintained my confidence and decided to use the same test taking strategies I had learned after weeks of doing UWorld. I didn’t feel great walking out but when I got my result, I felt happy but I also realized that this test is meant to shake your confidence and create doubt. The best thing you can do is not let shake you and double down on yourself!
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𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢#5:
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Step 1 is NOT an IQ test! Don’t let this exam define you, your self-worth or your intelligence. Life and medicine are so much bigger and more important than this exam.
The first 4 blocks were relatively similar to UW and NBME style marked about 4-5 questions, the 5th block was catastrophic by all means I had 20 marked questions though I wanted to mark all of them, after I finished it, I knew that I blew my chance of scoring a 260+ then by the time I did my last 2 blocks I was really fatigued, had a continuous abdominal pain during the last hour of the exam.
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🕰𝚁𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 :
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I finished each block in about 40 minutes and managed to review all my marked questions and sometimes even the whole block.
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⁉️𝚁𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 :
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I would say that around 70% were easy and straight forward , 20% were relatively challenging and needed time to exclude options and reach the correct answer , 10% are very hard but know that what seems hard to you also seems hard to most of the other examinees, Images were hard for me especially CT scans and MRIs ( the 5th block was a gallery , I had an awful lot of images ) and I finished my exam feeling angry because I knew that my performance declined after the 5th block and couldn’t keep up my pace after that.
TRY AS HARD AS POSSIBLE NOT TO MISS THE EASY QUESTIONS , in my humble opinion these questions matter the MOST.
Ethics : had about 3-4 questions each block , Most of them felt like UW , easier than AMBOSS and somewhat had logical answers except for a very few where you end up with 2 answers and you’ll have to take your chances.
Words can’t express how stressful were the last 2 weeks , I checked some of my answers and found out that I did about 10 silly unforgivable mistakes ( NEVER CHECK ANSWERS AFTER THE EXAM ) , I tried to suppress my thoughts about the exam as much as I can. Try going out with your friends, work out, binge watch series, really anything that could take your mind away from thinking about it.
⚖️Real deal: 251
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🏁𝚅𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚙𝚜 :
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1️⃣. Longer prep time does not correlate with a higher score, if you’re planning to do it during your med school then try to be religious to your schedule and do not procrastinate like I did.
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2️⃣. What works for others may not work for you, for example I heard a lot about ANKI I used it for 1 month then figured out that I can’t stick to doing cards for hours each day so gave it up without thinking twice, same goes for sketchy, 100 cases and many others.
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3️⃣. Nobody ever memorized every single word in FA. Don’t stress out if you can’t do it because nobody did.
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4️⃣. You probably heard this a million times, please read the explanations for ALL the answer choices in UWORLD/NBME questions (VERY VERY VERY HY), I know that it is very time consuming in the beginning, but you will thank yourself later on.
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5️⃣. SELF ASSESMENTS : ( This is just my personal opinion ) We all know that not a single one is 100% predictive , Most NBMEs are under predictive due to the fact that many questions are weirdly written and illogical , contain very bad quality pictures and not evenly distributed between all the materials covered in FA and UWORLD ( for example NBME 22 is anatomy heavy , NBME 23 is a neuro heavy and so on ) plus they do not contain many ethics and biostatistics questions which is not the real case in the actual exam nowadays, although my scores were high in NBMEs and UWSAs, I knew that these assessments are old and are nowhere near the real exam so I was mentally prepared that I may score less than all of them and that’s exactly what happened. It’s still above my goal which is a 250+ but who wouldn’t want a higher score when you are sure that you have the potential to score higher than that, but you have to accept the reality and always look at the bright side.
👌🏻The main point is:
Do not use these assessments as tools to predict your scores, whether your scores are higher or lower than your goal, use them to track your overall progress only. Because it all comes down to your exam day performance. You’ll read experiences for many people scoring 230-240s in the assessments and pulle
The best step1 experience ever , you have to read it
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#𝚄𝚂𝙼𝙻𝙴 𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙿1 𝙴𝚇𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙽𝙲𝙴 251
𝙳𝚁: Mazen Al-Malak
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🔛 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗
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Hello, my name is Mazen Almalak, I studied at Jordan University of Science and Technology (YOG; 2020). I feel that I have a moral obligation to write my Step 1 experience as I have benefited a lot from all the experiences written by previous doctors here on the group.
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📚𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚕𝚜 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍:
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UW (GOLD STANDARD), FA, Pathoma (only during the early phase), BnB, Anatomy shelf notes, AMBOSS Qbank for ethics and communication skills
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✍🏻𝚃𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 :
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about 2 years with many long gaps extending up to 5 months due to med school exams and COVID-19
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𝙿𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚎 1:
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(5th year January 2019 - May 2019)
I heard a lot about the USMLE by that time and felt that I should give it a go. I decided to try to finish at least finish all the systems by the end of my 5th year. I started with Pathoma videos as I was familiar with them and the book itself (I finished it twice during my 2nd and 3rd year) although I knew that it wasn’t ideal to jump straight to pathology and cram all of it in a short period, but I just wanted to study something I’m familiar with to begin the actual prep. After that I bought FA and started doing each system as followed: (FA plus )
Embryology and anatomy: BNB
Physiology (My weakest point): BNB and BRS Physiology only for Cardio, Neuro, Resp and Renal.
Pathology: Pathoma
Pharmacology: Nothing extra
After I finished each system, I did UW system wise
***Gap for 2 months due to med school final exams***
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𝙿𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚎 2:
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(6th year July 2019 – January 2020)
*Biochemistry which I hated it a lot at first because I had no idea about it then it became my favorite subject thanks to the amazing Dr. Sam Turco it took me 1 month to finish his videos and do FA and UW.
*Microbiology: I tried watching Sketchy and 5 mins into the first video I figured that it’s not for me so I studied it straight from FA and watched BNB for parasitology and virology and all the antibiotics , antifungals … etc. which in my personal opinion is more than enough.
It took me 1 month too.
*Immunology, Pathology, Pharmacology, Biostat, Ethics: FA + UW + BNB videos
Finished my first read by the end of October, continued to do UW every now and then and finished my 2nd read by January. (My pace was fluctuating at that time, had a lot of gaps sometimes for 1 or 2 weeks).
By this time I did 2 reads and finished about 60% of my UWORLD 1st pass.
Most useful resources:
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UFAPS is golden nothing more nothing less.
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Duration of study 12 months. (5-8 hours a day)
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I don’t want to dive into irrelevant details. So I will make this write up as short and beneficial as possible.
I can compartmentalize the whole process into three phases.
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My background :
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it was relatively good in Medical school but I never knew anything related to Step preparation until the 5th year that’s when I started looking up forums for resources and experiences on the internet.
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Initially, I used Kaplan books which turned out to be very low yield and not as much reflective of my style of preparation, so I stopped revising Kaplan books except for Neuroanatomy and Biochemistry the best two Kaplan resources in my opinion.
I didn’t want to start solving questions during this phase until I have familiarized myself with FAPS and the above mentioned Kaplan books.
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mentioned.
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𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝟭:
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(3months) (Learning how to learn)
I have spent up to three months trying to figure out the best resources.
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𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝟮:
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(4months) (Understanding)
I purchased 3 months Uworld subscription and started solving questions ( )
, I spent the remaining time revising the other resources
Uworld and FA will be your bread and butter during preparation, the remaining tools should be used to achieve a thorough understanding of these two. I didn’t stress myself with memorizing during this phase I wanted to fully grasp the core concepts first.
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𝗣𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝟯:
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(5months) the last phase. (Test taking skills) The real preparation starts here
The last 3 months of this phase was dedicated entirely for studying for the exam (post- graduation).
The most decisive phase in terms of boosting or lowering your score. (A double-edged sword) I wanted to simulate the real exam experience every day.
I spent 6 hours every day during this phase entirely solving Uworld questions (2-3 blocks a day)
test mode
while cross referencing First aid
So my main goal was to be exposed to as much questions as possible. I purchased First aid Qbank which was an incredible tool for consolidating First aid and boosting my NBMES. (Turning point) I managed to pass the 230’s threshold to reach 240’s and 250’s for the first time.
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𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟯 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀
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I have spent revising UFAPS and doing last round of Uworld. (Address your weaknesses revisit all the concepts you keep getting wrong on Uworld)
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assessment scores:
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06/12/2020
07/02/2020
10/26/2020
11/09/2020
11/30/2020
12/05/2020
12/28/2020
01/04/2021
29/01/2021
2 weeks before the exam 270. (UWSA1) 1 week before the exam 258. (UWSA2)
234. NBME15 230. 17
244. 19
242. 20
253. 21 243. 22 257. 23 250. 24
90% Free 120
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𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺 𝗱𝗮𝘆 :
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I had a horrible case of insomnia on the night before my exam. However, I was still able to squeeze in 3-4 hours of sleep which was sufficient.
𝟭-Arrived at the test center early.
𝟮-brought a lunch box full of protein bars and an energy drink.
The exam felt like a mix of NBME and Uworld. Took a break after each session did some stretches and washed my face. Most of the questions felt doable very few were really difficult, I couldn’t pinpoint what they were asking so I made an educated guess and moved on, it is important not to ruin your pace during the exam.
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𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 :
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everyone’s experience is different. This plan worked for me others may choose to go about it differently.
It is a difficult journey that requires a lot of patience and perseverance with many obstacles on the way keep you head up no matter what and don’t neglect yourself. I was still able to work out and go out with friends and family. (Not as much during the pandemic though)
Stay focused, keep grinding. Good luck!
Don't stop until you're proud ، fight for your dreams 💪😉
/channel/YouSMLE
#USMLESTEP1EXPERIENCE261
By dr : Shreena Gandhi
Hello USMLErs we need your support by like,comments and share .
Let’s make it 200 likes .
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USMLE Step 1 experience
I started my USMLE step 1 journey in June 2019. I had researched everything about the exam, read a lot of experiences, so I had a plan in my mind right from the start.
This is as important as the actual exam preparation because an organised preparation not only saves time but provides more output for the same/ less input.
I had decided to limit myself to a few resources and ace them.
My resources:
1. First aid 2019 – The bible. I did this book at least 6/7 times, and I knew it inside out.
The mistake people often do when approaching the FA is that they try learning everything without understanding the content. Every single word in FA holds a purpose, so if you do not understand what something means, research that topic in depth and clarify that concept. The FB groups were godsend in this respect, I used to post a lot of doubts and everyone is extremely helpful. Another simpler approach is just google it.
2. UW- do not underestimate this resource.
UW is a learning tool. Don’t rush it, it’ll affect the scores towards the end. Solve the Qs diligently, read the entire explanation top to bottom and add the additional points to your FA.
I used to do something called “question hygiene”. What I realised is once you form a habit, it sticks till the very end, even the final board exam. So, don’t solve the questions in a leisurely relaxed mode. I used to sit and solve every block as if it were the real exam, from the first day. I think that helped, because you don’t take questions for granted then and push yourself to look for every possible clue the stem has to offer.
You can take breaks before and after the block or make smaller blocks in the beginning but when you are solving those questions, make sure you’re focused.
3. B&B: One day I hope to go and personally thank Dr. Ryan for making this series. It’s the best! It cut my 1st pass duration into half. It basically takes you through FA, topic by topic and clarifies concepts, and provides additional UW concepts. One drawback, however, if you do not have a strong base, it can be a bit difficult to follow. You can use other resources to supplement.
4. ALL NBMEs: It’s an extremely underestimated resource. I solved all the old NBMEs, they helped me get used to the actual question pattern and trained my mind to use all the information it had in a meaningful way. The newer online ones, I used as an assessment and learning tool, both.
5. Other optional resources:
Sketchy micro (only for bacteria and viruses, absolutely love it)
Anatomy shelf notes (avoidable)
100 cases by Conrad Fischer
Dr. Turco’s Kaplan Biochemistry lectures (very good for forming a good base )
Dr. White’s Kaplan Neuroanatomy lectures
My preparation phase was divided into 5 passes:
1st pass: 5 months
I watched Pathoma and B&B videos (without pathology) and annotated all the points into my FA.
I would go through over the content with my study partner and then I would solve the UW blocks for that system in the same order i.e. embryology anatomy physiology pathology pharmacology. All the extra points I found in UW, I made flashcards out of these.
UW first pass score: 78%
2nd pass: 2.5 months
I now started revising my FA with my flashcards. I annotated all the flashcards into my FA to make it one comprehensive resource for me. You can learn the flashcards separately to save time.
3rd pass: 1.5 months
Now, I started solving all the NBMEs with 3rd pass of my “all annotated” FA. (I don’t remember all the exact NBME scores, but they went all the way from 240s to 260s)
4th pass: 1.5 months
I did my 5th pass with UW mixed and timed blocks. Assessment with weekly NBMEs.
UW second pass score: 94%
5th pass: 1.5 months
Got this additional preparation time due to the COVID-19 lockdown in my country.
I did my 6th pass of FA with weekly NBMEs.
Online NBME scores :
NBME 24 - 241 (4 months out)
#𝗨𝗦𝗠𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣𝟭 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝟮𝟱𝟱
By:DR: Thejaneway Osler
Amazing 😉 ✊
Another 255
Hi! I would like to share my Experience because I got a lot of help from others who shared their experiences, please excuse me for my English.
I’m an IMG with graduated year of 2016 and started to study 3years ago from Kaplan except patho and microbe, also Pathoma, HY anatomy, BRS physio, FA, UW only 4chapters. Even though I had registered my exam, couldn’t take it.
Then I moved to US as a researcher and had to work day and night with zero studying. In August 2019, I started to study again with 15 Qs a day and FA some days.
It was May 2020 that I started again with an NBME: 163. As you see everything before that was not effective, I increased studying more than research little by little and finally I finished first pass UW in August, I was studying FA every night with a study partner. I went through incorrect Qs and marks with reading only the educational objectives and made flashcards for them and also NBME.
I started dedicated period 3m out with virtual library (except last weeks): went through 3rd pass of FA and all weaknesses: BnB biases, pulmonary physio, ethics and Randy Neil biostat, 100cases ethics, first 3 chapters of Pathoma, dirty medicine ethics videos, Amboss library (larynx, LN anatomy), 10 sketchy videos for microbiology, searching google for everything that I didn’t understand. Then started 2nd pass UW (only 2/3) with FA. Became faster day by day (20min left at the end of block, 1st pass: only 1min left). Read 80% of my UW flash cards only one time, no time for NBME cards. In last 2w, I only studied FA. I was doing a lot of mistakes in practice tests whenever I was in rush, so in the exam I tried to be faster from the first questions so that I had 10min left to go back to the marks. The video for 260+ of dirty medicine really helped me. Taking the free 120 at prometric center was very helpful and worthy. I had 88%, 78% and 90%. 78% was the block after I noticed my break time was more than my expectation and I got stress so I avoid these issues in the real exam. Overall I had several silly mistakes in practice tests and I was very careful about it in the exam. I was dividing NBME Qs to 5 blocks with adding 2 UW blocks at the end or middle of the simulating exam.
The day before exam:
I used to study the night before exam but the mistake was continuing to study after 6 PM. I ended at 9:30 so I could finally sleep at 11 and slept for 6.5hr after modifying the temperature and controlling my stress.
Exam day:
I worked on my self confidence and stress a lot and it was effective. 2 blocks were difficult and I had less time left, I had more flagged Qs than remaining Qs, but other blocks were easy, there was a block with 3 flags only. Ethics was easy for me except 2Qs that I couldn’t decide among 4 options. As every body said choose the open ended questions. Pharma was like before. I changed my choices in several questions and I think maybe only one of them became the wrong one, but for most of the Qs: after changing I was feeling it makes sense now. For me whenever it doesn’t make sense, usually it’s not the correct choice.
NBME 13 163 5/19/2020
NBME 15 182 6/1/2020
NBME 17 213 7/27/2020
Uworld 1st pass 62% 8/15/2020
NBME 20 214 9/1/2020
NBME 21 230 9/28/2020
NBME 22 224 10/20/2020
NBME 19 236 10/30/2020
NBME 16 242 11/6/2020
UWSA1 258 11/13/2020
NBME 23 233 11/28/2020
NBME 18 242 12/15/2020
UWSA2 249 12/17/2020
Free 120 85% 12/19/2020
Step 1 255 12/30/2020
For the ones who live alone and are disappointed: there were times that I didn’t know what to do and people were telling me study FA and UW, that’s it. Luckily I found FB and Reddit and a lot of helpful people. Believe in yourself, there were times
“Sometimes, the key to making progress is to recognize how to take that very first step. Then you start your journey. You hope for the best and you stick with it, day in, day out. Even if you’re tired, even if you want to walk away, you don’t. Because you are a pioneer. But nobody ever said it’d be easy.” – Christina Yang
Читать полностью…
I had a redbull , snickers , chocolates for the day , make sure you wear loose clothes without pockets and socks( wear a t shirt instead of a shirt , sandals instead of a pair of shoes)
I did 2 blocks in one sitting and took a break of 10 mins in between , didn’t utilize 25-30 mins of my break because i did not feel the need of taking it . i knew i was in the game , and i wanted to finish it early and on a high note i managed to finish the exam 50 – 55 mins before the stipulated 8 hours .
The key here is , this worked for me , it might not be applicable on you , but you have to know various ways of how people have tackled this monster of an exam in past to choose the best one for yourself .
Its a do-able exam , if i could do it , you could get a 265 (no kidding )
All the best , stop freaking out , start working !
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One day Before exam :
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I did Dirty medicines advise
Woke up early excersed, studied lightly till 4pm, I watched a movie and slept at 10 pm.
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Exam date : 1st August 2021
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woke up early 5 am, ate breakfast, took my permit plus passport.
I arrived 1 hour earlier and waited some time.
First block was a bit difficult for me with vague communication questions I marked around 10 or 12, continued to second block without taking break, the I took 10 mins break drunk my coffee, ate my chocolate bars, freshened up and stretched. After this I was finding the questions better well balanced. I was taking 10 mins before blocks so by the time I finished the last block I had with 13 minutes of rest remaining.
In addition I was finishing my blocks seven to ten minutes to revise what I marked.
After the exam I felt okay but I ended up looking at some silly mistakes I did which I advise against. And there is no way to know which questions are experimental except for few obviously weird ones. I guessed them and moved on.
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Last :
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This journey has helped me make a lot of good friends and bad enemies 🤣🤣🤣🤣 (forget the last part I haven't made any enemies).
My wife is laughing at me right now for writing such a long biography 😂😂😂😂
I am venting I guess, after all this sweat and toil.
Exam date was 9th august, I told myself i was not going to change any answers because of my test taking history
I took a 5 minutes breaks after each block except block 4 where I took 20 minutes to eat snacks and receive fresh air. I feel I got an easy exam, every block had at least 4 communication skills only one question on my exam felt experimental. On the final question on my exam after successfully fighting that voice to change answers, I changed the last one and after I checked it online and I failed it.
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Tips :
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The exam felt like the free 120, mostly straightforward and very few difficult questions, I heard if you get an easy form, the curve is harsher and vice versa
Due to my assessment scores I had a gut feeling, I was always going to underperform. I scored a 262. I'm willing to answer any questions
I can share my anki deck if anyone is interested.
NBME 20 - 254 (3 months out)
NBME 22 - 251 (3 months out)
NBME 23 - 259 (2.5 months out)
UWSA1 - 259 (2 months out)
NBME 21 - 260 (10 days out)
Exam: June 11
Result: Got the result in 2 weeks itself. 261, was overjoyed!
To conclude, “Sometimes, the key to making progress is to recognize how to take that very first step. Then you start your journey. You hope for the best and you stick with it, day in, day out. Even if you’re tired, even if you want to walk away, you don’t. Because you are a pioneer. But nobody ever said it’d be easy.” – Christina Yang
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I’m not refuting that if you are on the “smarter side” or “at the top of your class”, preparing for and taking the exam isn’t easier, because it probably is.
What I am saying is, this exam is a lot more like “a war of attrition” than it is an IQ test. It’s about how much you are willing to give it more than baseline intelligence/IQ.
I say this because you can study for 14-15 hours/day (which I did on most days) or you can study 7-8 hours/day or even anywhere in the middle. To any sane human being outside of medicine, all of those numbers are INSANE! Nobody in their right mind would think anything other than how hard-working you are for putting any of the above mentioned numbers on a daily basis for months!
Therefore, I believe you have to chose for yourself what number is feasible for you keeping in mind your mental health. As I mentioned, this is a WAR OF ATTRITION! You either wear the test out or the test wears you out! This is why it’s important to draw a line for yourself based on your goals and mental health!
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I hope this is useful for folks preparing for this exam! I know the pain and the struggle and I truly hope everyone can get their goal score! But if you don’t hit your goal, don’t despair, I’ve had mentors that I consider to be the most amazing physicians who are insanely smart and accomplished and they’ve had average scores on this exam. I chose to not let this test define me for this reason. When I got my score, I wasn’t as happy as I could have been had I let this test define me or my intelligence. And I will take this trade-off any and every day. Just my 2 cents. Good luck to everyone!
d of a 250-260 + in the real deal and vice versa so Don’t be too hard on yourself if your scores are lower than your goal.
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6️⃣. The exam itself is grueling task (8 hours) it tests your endurance and stamina to the max, so pack enough food and stay hydrated.
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7️⃣. It may seem like there was a lot to do but I still had a life throughout all of it, I exercised regularly, went out with my friends, wasted time on social media and Netflix…etc.
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8️⃣. It is pretty normal to feel depressed, down, angry, or whatever at times believe me it is part of the process, take a break for a day or two even during dedicated, your physical and mental health is a PRIORITY.
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9️⃣. All in all, You need to work hard, believe in yourself and never let this exam define you as person, at the end of the day it is only an exam that you unfortunately have to take to reach your ultimate goals, it is hopefully the step 1 to all the great opportunities waiting for you in the future.
🔚
I want to thank my family and friends who kept me sane & motivated me throughout this whole period and wish everyone reading this the best of luck in their exams, I hope you all get higher scores than you ever dreamed of.
I would be happy to answer any questions you have
الحمدلله دائما و ابداً
In February 2020 I went to the US for my away rotations, by the 4th week of my first rotation I received an e-mail from the institute informing me that the last 4 days of my current rotation are cancelled due to COVID and my 2nd rotation was also cancelled, and I got stuck in the US until MAY.
I came back to Jordan and underwent a quarantine for a WHOLE MONTH then did my final exams.
I did not study a single world throughout this period. So, by now I had this HUGE gap from February till July, I have already forgotten about 80% of what I’ve studied, not a single note I wrote on the book made sense to me, I was really considering giving up at that time.
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𝙿𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚎 3:
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(August 2020 – March 24th, 2021)
I felt really down when I restarted my prep, I regained my composure and did two back-to-back reads, completed my UW first pass by the end of November.
***By that time UWORLD added a lot of questions I think they added about 600-700 questions during my gap period which led to extending my prep time even more
Then I did 2 NBMEs one week apart to see where I stand and calculate how much more time I needed.
NBME 16 (3 months out): 230
NBME 15 (3 months out): 223
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🏋🏻♂️𝙳𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚍:
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(MOST IMPORTANT PHASE OF PREPERATION):
CONSISTENCY IS KEY DURING THIS PERIOD, I did one NBME every Saturday, 4 reads throughout this period, 2nd round of UW (Random, timed, 91.5 % correct), AMBOSS question bank for Ethics and communication skills and Anatomy shelf notes in the last 2 months
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🎬𝙰𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 :
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NBMEs in chronological order:
NBME 17: 249 (9 weeks out)
NBME 20: 243 (8 weeks out)
NBME 22: 258 (7 weeks out)
NBME 21: 256 (6 weeks out)
NBME 23: 258 (5 weeks out)
NBME24: 259 (4 weeks out)
UWSA 1: 269 (3 weeks out)
NBME 18: 269 (easiest one in my opinion) (2 weeks out)
UWSA 2: 264 (1 week out)
Reddit score predictor: 263 +/- 8
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⏳𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚖 :
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I followed Dirty medicine video recommendation (HY), reviewed some hard and volatile info until 2 PM then enjoyed the rest of the day off ( VERY IMPORTANT TO DO SO )
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👻𝙴𝚡𝚊𝚖 𝚍𝚊𝚢 :
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woke up at 4 am slept for 6 hours had my breakfast arrived at the prometric center 7am started my exam at 7:30
I took my breaks in this order
1st block – 5 mins – 2nd block – 5mins – 3rd block - 10 mins – 4th block – 10 mins – 5th block – 15 mins – 6th block – 15 mins – 7th block
During each break I drank water, coffee, ate a protein bar and went to the restroom even if I didn’t feel like going.
#𝚄𝚂𝙼𝙻𝙴 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚙𝟷 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 264
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𝗗𝗿: Bakir Mahmoud
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𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹 during my prep ,
I’d like to return the favor .
264 step 1 write up.
I've been a long time lurker but finally felt it was time to contribute.
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𝙱𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 :
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non-US IMG | non-step curriculum | top 5%
For clinical rotations, my normal schedule was to learn from UW step 2 CK.
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🏋🏻♀️𝚃𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚍 :
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9 months, on and off
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📚𝚁𝚎𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚜 :
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🎥📖 FA(3x) :
The best resource available for usmle step 1, the real exam is basically tailored to its contents.
However, for distribution - based learners, it's not mandatory; Zhanki Deck covers most of it.
💻 UW (2x) :
For you to answer a question correctly, you need both knowledge and problem solving skills ( aka : educated guess), the latter is easily acquired by solving more questions, the more you solve the higher you score.
Make sure you do a couple of blocks at once, timed, then read the explanations later; for better simulation.
💻Amboss q bank :
Finished around 70%, 88-92% correct.
Basically, it's a German bank translated to English, question stems are kind of vague for that matter, I'd say pretty harder than UW and the real deal.
💻 Amboss library 📚 :
For some topics
Simply amazing, kind of a better, clearer version of FA
Especially helped me with Histopathology images and CT/MRI, since it contained detailed description of each image with colored overlays.
🎥📖 pathoma :
I'm not a video - based learner, Dr Hussein is an exception.
Everyone knows how much of a great resource this is, I'm just gonna say, make sure to re-watch chapters 1-3 the week before your exam, it's an easy 8-10 questions.
🎥📖 Ethics :
The nightmare of every IMG preparing for step 1 : Ethics!
Nothing I did was helpful to deal with the newly added communication skills, even Dr Randy Neil's videos!
it was the only topic marked as "low" in my score report.
Conrad Fisher's book is great for learning ethics in general, I'd say low yield for the exam.
🎥 BnB :
It's a great resource for video-based learners, I used it for some topics I struggled with.
📖 BRS physiology:
Good for learning physiology in general, not mandatory for step 1, UW & First aid got you covered.
📖🎥 sketchy micro:
Hands down, best resource for Microbiology I've come across.
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🤼♂️𝚂𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 :
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- I did NBMEs 1-24 offline for practice
Each NBME is 5 hours long, the stems are far shorter than than the real deal.
For this reason, I did each one of them in 3 hours for better simulation of the real exam environment.
Most students say it's not necessary, for me I found it helpful
Some of NBME concepts were even tested in my exam, although in a different way.
Ranged from 5-10 qs wrong, except nbme 23 : 17qs wrong
In particular, NBME 18 : 5 wrongs
NBME 24 : 8 wrongs, which could be translated to 269 according to reddit.
- Amboss SA : 262.
- USWA1 : 275
- USWA 2 : 271
- Free NBME 120 : 93.5%
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⏰𝙴𝚡𝚊𝚖 𝚍𝚊𝚢 :
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I did everything as instructed in the video posted by Dirty USMLE on youtube.
Skipped turorial, Finished every block in 30 minutes ( 40 for block 5&6), 15 minutes for revising flagged questions, and the remaining added to my break time.
I felt the exam was easier than UW and most of my assessments ( my sensor for a harsh curve got activated 😛) clear stems, longer but doable.
Some students say there are 80 experimental questions, I didn't find this to be ture
About 3-4 questions in the whole exam were definitely weird new concepts I had never come across during my preparation.
Around 10% of questions might seem vague and new at first, USMLE has a habbit of asking about basic principles in the most bizarre ways....
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💡𝙰𝚍𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚎 !?
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Make sure you read tons of experiences posted by other students
Thank you
#𝚄𝚂𝙼𝙻𝙴 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚙𝟷 𝙴𝚡𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚌𝚎 260
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Dr:Hasan Al Hasan
US-IMG
YOG: 2020
I took the beast and received my score report recently.
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𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
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Previous exam experiences and write ups in various forums on the Internet were incredibly helpful to navigate my way through this journey and I believe it is time to give back.
I want to start by saying that it is doable, this may sound cliché but consistency and hard work does pay off.
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𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 :
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FAPS, BRS physiology, Kaplan Neuroanatomy, Kaplan Biochemistry, Conrad Fisher ethics.
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𝗤𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀:
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Uworld, Usmlerx, Uworld biostatistics.
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𝗩𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀:
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Kaplan videos (before real prep duration during fifth year) B&B few selected topics (I would highly recommend Cardiovascular and Renal sections as most beneficial), Fa express videos (for weak subjects only)
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𝗨𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱:
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the most comprehensive tool and the gold standard for this exam understand every Line and every concept go through the answers and try to differentiate between every option and the clues that lead you to choose an answer over another. I cannot stress this enough!
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𝗕𝗥𝗦:
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does an incredible job at explaining physiology by system in a very simplistic and comprehensive way awesome book for the initial phases of revision.
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𝗞𝗮𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀:
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👉Neuroanatomy:
covers few extra concepts that I have not come across in FA. Not necessary if you feel strong in this area use it to complement FA and Uworld if you feel weak in this subject.
👉Biochemistry:
very strong tool for building a good understanding of the different biochemical pathways use it in the beginning of your preparation.
All these resources helped me achieve a better understanding of the majority of concepts in FA
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First aid:
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every word in this book must be fully understood before entering the exam this is extremely important. I have tried different approaches for studying this book, best of which was cross referencing alongside Uworld.
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Sketchy:
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I watched the videos once then started using Anki to go through the cards. Incredibly high yield for Microbiology (the only resource I used through Anki)
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Pathoma:
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Never read the book! Doctor Sattar made me love pathology with his in-depth explanations and simplistic overviews and drawings watched his videos 2 times.
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Uworld biostatistics:
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not very useful, use it if you feel particularily weak in this subject.
NBME 20 - 254 (3 months out)
NBME 22 - 251 (3 months out)
NBME 23 - 259 (2.5 months out)
UWSA1 - 259 (2 months out)
NBME 21 - 260 (10 days out)
Exam: June 11
Result: Got the result in 2 weeks itself. 261, was overjoyed!
To conclude, “Sometimes, the key to making progress is to recognize how to take that very first step. Then you start your journey. You hope for the best and you stick with it, day in, day out. Even if you’re tired, even if you want to walk away, you don’t. Because you are a pioneer. But nobody ever said it’d be easy.” – Christina Yang
I was studying with tears on my face but finally I believed in myself. Make sure to have progress every week. You will have barriers but become stronger after each of them. Whatever happens, don’t stop studying more than a week, making associations becomes very difficult. Virtual library was great, I increased my effective studying time from 6.5hr to 9hr in 3m out. I’m really thankful for their help. I also had my mom’s support every day by video calls who was pushing me forward. Keep the chain of helping people and be kind. We are not competing for one specific cup or something. Good luck and work hard for your future.
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USMLE step 1 experience by dr.Patrick Pathappillil - score 237
Usmle step 1 experience
Step 1 score-237
I know its not a 250 or an outstanding score but i just wanted to share my experience with everyone, coz it might help some one.
Preparation time - 1 year 2 months
Resources used- First aid & uworld (main)
Becker, rx and kaplan qbank (just for practise)
Nbme 7- 210(8 months back)
Nbme 13- 200 (9 months back)
Nbme 15- 221 (7 months ago)
Nbme 16- 219 (6 months ago)
Nbme 12- 228(4 months ago)
Nbme 11- 231 (3 months ago)
Nbme 17- 242 (1.5 months ago)
Nbme 18- 246 (1 month back)
Nbme 19- 246 (1 month back)
Uwsa 1- 251 (3 weeks ago)
Uwsa 2- 245 (3 weeks ago)
Free 120- 75% (3weeks ago)
I am an average student who used to have fun during med school and just used to study for exams. I started off with first aid but i wasnt able to understand the core concepts. Then i started using rx videos and dit while reading first aid, and that made me understand the concepts upto 70%. After each chapter in first aid i would do the respective uworld topics. My first pass of uworld was 58%.
I was doing well initially and there was increase in my marks till i reached 220 where it started getting stagnant. Then i started analyzing my nbmes and started figuring out why i was getting questions wrong. I would categorize the wrong questions into didnt know, stuck between 2 options and careless mistakes. And the most questions was because i was careless and i wouldnt read the question properly, and there would be some twist in the last line of the question. So i highly advise to read the last line and the options and then read the whole vignette. So then i started doing other qbanks like rx, kaplan and becker on timed mode, so that i dont make careless mistakes. The purpose of these qbanks was not to get extra info but to reduce the careless mistakes that i was making because i was making approximately 12-15 careless mistakes in each exam. When i did these qbank i did it in timed mode, and when i went through the answers i wouldnt bother if its a completely new concept that fa and uworld hasnt mentioned.
Final month
Finished off my remaining nbmes which are 18 and 19. I did uwsa 1 & 2 together to simulate the actual test which is highly recommended. I revised fa 2 more times and noted down the points which i was forgetting on a note book so that i could revise the day before the exam
Advice:
Each persons strategy is different. I feel kaplan is very low yield and not required. FA and uworld is very very high yield. Try to pull out the hidden info in fa and try to understand why each concept given is fa rather than memorizing. After each nbme understand why the answer is wrong, and why the right answer is the right one because those concepts are being asked in the actual exam. During the exam it is advisable you skip the tutorial, so that you can save 15 minutes. You can watch the tutorial on the usmle site the day before the exam. Just do your best and leave the rest to god!!