USMLE step 1 experience by dr.Abbas M. Hassan - score 265

Hey everyone,

This forum motivated me a lot during my preparation for this exam, I used it as a guide and a learning tool. So here I am today sharing my experience as a payback to this amazing forum! 

Studying for this exam is indeed one of the hardest things you will ever do but having the right approach will help and save you a lot of time. Remember to always be excited and have the foresight of making yourself a better doctor.

Also, don't forget to always maintain a healthy lifestyle, as your state of mind is influenced by your health.

𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬:

The order of assessments taken is as follows;

NBME 13: 248

CBSE: 252 (91%)

NBME 15: 250

NBME 16: 256

NBME 17: 261

NBME 19 + UWSA1 (back to back): 264 and 271 respectively. 

UWSA2: 264

NBME 18: 261

Free 120: 89%

Usmle Rx: 84%

Beckers qbank: 81%

Kaplan qbank: I don't exactly remember but in the '80s

Uworld qbank: 89% (Random, timed)

Old NBME's: I did all of them on timed mode, scores ranged from low 240's to high 250's

Actual score: 𝟐𝟔𝟓

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝:

A) Subject-wise:

1-Pathology: Pathoma + Goljan rapid review and audio

2-Pharm: Beckers review + Sketchy pharm

3-Physiology: BRS physiology + Beckers review

4-Microbiology: Microbiology made simple + Sketchy micro

5-Behavioral science: Beckers review+ BRS questions+ 100 ethics cases +UW biostats review+ Randy Neil videos on YouTube. 

6-Biochemistry: Beckers review

7-Anatomy: Beckers review+ BRS anatomy+ 100 concepts

8-Immunology: Beckers review and Abbas basic immunology

B) By resource:

1-First Aid: done 5-6 times, 5 stars, a must-do, 

2-Goljan RR: done 2 times, very time consuming, do only if you have plenty of time or your path background is weak.

3-Pathoma: Must do, almost all you need to know about path.

4-Sketchy: I think this is a gift from God. The best resource out there.

5-Micro made simple: amazing, complement with sketchy for a stunning outcome 

6-BRS physio: done 2 times, a must do for physio.

Qbanks: UW>>Rx>Kaplan>beckers

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

I am a NON-US IMG from Sudan. Top 1% of class on a mid-tier Caribbean medical school.

My preparation for this test is divided into two phases: 1) Pre-dedicated 2) dedicated study period.

1- Pre-dedicated:

Our program is 4 years, two are basic sciences and 2 are clinical sciences. 

MS1-2: after studying every organ system I use to do UW, Rx and sometimes Kaplan qbank and read the relevant section from the First Aid. I also used pathoma and sketchy at this stage.

After finishing MS2 our school enrolls us in beckers USMLE step1 live courses.

I watched almost all their videos except path and micro, for which I did Pathoma+Goljan and sketchy.

I also did Integrated cases with Dr. Raymon, shout out to this amazing professor he is literally one of the smartest people I met.

After finishing their lectures, I did their Qbank followed by Kaplan Qbank.

2- Dedicated study period:

Total time: 5 weeks.

Focused primarily on doing UW + FA 

On the first week, I used to do 80 questions/day and reading FA thoroughly 

2nd week to 4th week: 120 questions/day of UW + FA 

5th week: I focused on my week areas and did the Basics section of FA again

Note: I also used B&B for my week topics and also referenced my review books.

𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐲:

I slept well the day before my test. Woke up at 5 am to pray and meditate.

Packed all of my snacks and beverages the night before.

Arrived at the testing center early but I was allowed to start my test as soon as I arrived.

I had 280 questions on my test. Timing wasn't a problem as I finished every block with 10-15 mins on average. I used the spare time to go over the marked question and to quickly make sure I didn't do any stupid mistakes on the rest of the questions.

The exam is fair, with 80-90% covered in UW + FA. 5-10% was really out of nowhere, in this case, made my best guess and moved on without wasting so much time.

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞:

1-In my humble opinion, studying for any exam should be divided into two stages: gathering the information phase and the phase of applying it and integrating it with other info. Linking to my experience I used Beckers and other review books as a way to gather everything I needed. And then followed that by using questions to apply and integrate (read next).

2-Questions are everything. I did more than 12,500 questions at least. The more questions u do the higher your score will be. Also make sure u expose yourself to multiple banks, to see how different test writers think.

3-Don't compare yourself to others. Everyone has their own strengthens and weakness so what might apply for others may not hold true for you. 

Find out your weaknesses as soon as possible and dedicate more time to them. You can do that by looking at the breakdown of your assessments.

4-Perseverance is key! You will have days in which you feel like you are not making any progress but don't give up. Take a break whenever u feel this way, do something outside of medicine and get back to it fresh and ready to kill it.

5-Believe in yourself, don't let anyone tell you that you cant.

Good luck on your test, I hope to see you on the other side soon 😊

I will be happy to answer any questions.

Yours sincerely,

Abbas.

USMLE step 1 experience by dr.Rachana Borkar‎ - score 241

I got my score today....Happy to share with you all - 241.

I'm an old graduate and started preparing on-off since Feb 2018. I started with kaplan notes for all subjects and read them all till June 2018, in retrospect they were low yield for me.

Then I did Microbiology sketchy...It is excellent tool to correlate and remember.

Followed by Pathoma book and videos....It was average yield for me.

Then it was september and I Subscribed to uworld , did few hundred Q's myself and it was going very slow....so searched for study partner here...Thanks to Moe Al-kasab, It started going smoothly and consistently....I read Uworld and FA 1.5 times with Moe till end of january. Then I took 2 week break for self study and gave exam on 15th feb 2019.

Last 2 weeks I only did my weak areas like Biostatistics, Ethics, CNS, physician task etc. from Uworld and FA.

One day before exam I only did high yield formulae and tables, slept early for 7hr sleep.

On exam day I reached early after having good breakfast and strong coffee. Took 1st &2nd block then 10min break, 3rd & 4th block then 10min break, 5th block and 20min lunch break then 6th block & 10min break then the last block. After exam ended I was numb, It was tougher than the 3 NBME's I took and was expecting about that much or lower score, I'm happy it was not so.

I gave only 3 NBME's 

NBME 15 on 31st dec '18- 225

NBME 17 on end Jan '19- 228

NBME 18 days before exam -225

My scores were average but I couldn't wait longer so gave the exam.

USMLE step 1 experience by dr.Fawad Khan - score 257

date of exam: 5 dec 2018,

Score: 257

total duration of prep : 7 months approx

materials used: Uworld, Kaplan 2014, pathoma

i had watched pathoma, kaplan videos 2014(except pharma and pathology) during undergraduate years and thus 

i started my preparation after purchasing online uworld in April 2018 and would do it off and on for about 4-5 hours daily and sometimes i would have to skip days because of Job schedule. i would read first aid alongwith uworld.

I would do NBMEs along with it and got dishearted after doing offline NBME 7 , in which i did 39 mistakes.

During the mid of preparation i skipped two weeks because of exhaustion and the whole endeavor seemed fruitless and i was thinking of quitting. but later on i just starts again in September ande this time with greater determination. i kept on doing NBMES the scores of which i would share below and it seemed like my score was stuck in between the range of 230-240.

After the uworld subscription expired i booked the date and had no MCQs pool to solve , thus i downloaded and started doing USMLE rx 2017 offline , after finishing Uworld , just to feel more productive and doing something useful. This Qbank was way too easy and had strightforward questions in comparison to Uworld where the questions were twisted and one had to integrate many disciplines in order to arrive at the correct answer.

EXAM DAY:

Now something about the real exam, the real exam had the same format as that of Uworld, but the questions were way too confusing and one had to think thorougly to arrive at the correct answer. the picture quality of histology images and graphs was poor and one couldnt decipher them easily. it had heart sounds and ECGs which needed proper understanding of ECGs and heart sounds as these questions were not doable just from the provided question stem only. 

Overall in every block there would be 5-10 questions which wouldnt make any sense at all. the rest required good concepts and were doable.

EXAM ANXIETY: (Greatest factor that can mar your score)

Exam day anxiety is the greatest factor that determines your score, the more you fear and are anxious the greater the chances are to do silly and avoidable mistakes, one has to be confident and sure about his knowledge while solving questions. i had 2 juniors along with me and we took the test on the same day and they were well prepared but couldn't achieve their desired target score because of severe anxiety and lack of restful sleep..... And the main factor that my real score came way above my NBMES score is lack of exam anxiety and leaving it to the Luck. i rarely changed my answers while solving questions and would move on to the next block as soon as i would finish marking the answers and giving a quick review. thus i ended up finishing the exam 2 hours before the allotted time.....and my anxiety phase started after finishing the exam as i thought i should have taken more time while solving questions, any how this anxiety kept on bugging me until i got the result on 2nd jan, 2019

I did all of the following NBMEs Offline and calculated the score based upon the formula which is 1.34 * correct answers

NBME 13: 236

NBME 15: 234

NBME 17: 237

NBME 18: 242

NBME 19: 237

UWSA 1: 254

UWSA 2: 254

UW first pass percentage : 79.1%

Step1 Score: 257

hope this helps, Best of Luck,

USMLE step 1 experience - score 239

Step 1 experience

Exam date - 29th January 2019

Exam score - 239

So this post is going to focus on productive preparation in lesser time.

Preparation time -

3 months (dedicated) +

2 months (did just 3 subjects/systems From Kaplan randomly with internship)

Did 2 subjects during medical college in last 2 years.

Though the journey began 3 years ago when I decided to go for USMLE, it was month of September 2018 when I decided to appear for step 1 before my USA visit for rotation and CS ,before 2019 begins.

At that time I was just done with 3 subjects/systems from Kaplan+FA including 1 during my medical college 1.5 years back. That will sound/was sounding stupid thought to many - To go for step 1 in next 4 months.

I was also not sure but started preparing positively. But could do only 1 subject/system (s/s) in September with internship. In first week of October, got A/L for rotation for Feb instead of Jan. That gave me positivity (1 month extra time). But again could do only 2 s/s in October.

Finally all went well and it was my time........ Got time for my dedicated preparation for next 3 months till Jan. It was first week of November already. And at that time I was done with about half of Kaplan with FA. Had a job to do........

Started doing Kaplan videos with notes only superficially (except Biochem and Neuroanatomy) with FA. I always used to correlate the topics from different system while reading FA. That's how you build your clinical acquisition. And I would also add page no. For those correlating topics, and thus revising both topics simultaneously during every revision. That helped me a lot......

Began second revision of FA in first week of December. Now I started Uworld with 1 block from each s/s while revising the same from FA. By this method I was done with 2nd revision of FA with about 10% of Uworld by 26th December. Meanwhile I had to take my date on 23th because of decreasing availability for my desired week.

On 27th I took offline NBME 12. It was just 180. That was something that challenged me to increase my efforts. (I've always been a person who upon facing problems/obstacles, tries to increase efforts rather than decreasing the target.) So that's what I did.

On 28th I started my 3rd FA revision followed by 1 block from each s/s like I did before. The only thing I did differently was, I did 1 extra block of combined s/s after doing every 2-3 s/s. So that's how I was done with 3rd revision of FA and 20% of Uworld by 5th f/b online NBME 13 - which was only 189. This time I personally was about to give up. (Exam after 24 days , Uworld 1st time only 20% done, FA 3 times - M not counting the FA done for Uworld explanation) so this time he was my Dad who brought me out of those negativity and motivated me to keep my efforts 100% till the exam day, and leaving the decision of giving up only up to the last day before exam.

Eventually I realised that I had many silly mistakes on which I had to work apart from lack of knowledge. So from 7th I started doing exclusively Uworld (3 block/day) with explanation and also going through FA for the same. I was done with Uworld on 20th Jan.

Gave NBMEs in between on 15th Jan.

NBME 15 - with about 70% Uworld - 224

NBME 17 - with 100% Uworld - 224

Then on 21st started revising the same, beginning with my oldest block in December. Revised about 35% Uworld and left the rest with NBME 19 - 230 (1 week before exam)

NBME 16 - 230 (3 days before exam)

UWSA 2 - 243 (2 days before exam)

NBME 18 - 242 (1 day before exam)

I think there is no need to explain anything about exam day, everyone must be aware about that, though you can pm me if any q.

So the keys to focus from my experience is

1. It's nothing like you HAVE to work for 8-9 months then only you can appear for exam.

it's about how your efforts, focus and dedication and pattern of preparation are...... Simple concept...... It works like compound interest. If you increase your efforts ×2 , then results will be ×4. Reason is that. If you do the task in 7 days instead of 10 then you have not just saved 3 days. Here, You will also be able to revise the same in 3 days instead of 5 which would have taken otherwise. So by increasing little efforts on daily basis, you will eventually get big results. That was the key which made this possible.

2. Decrease your circle. You may be doing more than people. And knowing that can will Decrease your speed. Remember your only competition is YOU. You need to do more than yourself from yesterday. That's the key to increase your level up and up. Ultimately what matters is, your own people i.e, Family, old friends.

Advice about Uworld- Understand it's not FA. No need to memorize every word/sentence. Just understand every sentence/concept thoroughly during first go thorough. You should memorize only "BOLD text" and "EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES". Try to add on from those in FA - only things which are supposed to be memorized, or you think you are likely to forget.

Don't make too many notes.

And also try to make flashcards in Uworld itself. Tag the page number from FA and topic name on them. Will be easier to revise.

Hope that helps. All the best.....👍

USMLE step 1 experience by dr.Shany Cohen - score 224

Hey everyone. I finally got my score this week - 224. It’s not high, but enough for me. 

If you remember, you all advised me to postpone for one more month, and I did, and I’m very pleased with my progress. 

Here are the results of the exams I took in the last weeks - 

December 17 - NBME 19 - 175. 

December 18 - NBME 13 - 198.

January 7 - NBME 11 - 212 (off line, 81% correct).

January 8 - NBME 15 - 210 (off line, 78% correct).

January 18 - NBME 16 - 213 

January 21 - free 120 - 82% 

January 22 - NBME 18 - 209

January 27 - real exam - 224

As you can see my final result was higher than all my NBMEs, so don’t get discouraged. I think this last month of studying made a big difference for me - even though I’ve been studying on and off for a year, and tried to still have a life with 4 kids. I used the last month to go over first aid beginning to end (and memorizing some important things I saw I kept getting wrong), and doing all those NBMEs.

Thank you all for your continuous support. I would’ve given up a long time ago without you. 

Good luck to you all ❤️

USMLE step 1 experience by dr. Neeraj Makheja - score 260

Step 1 Experience :

Score : 260

Exam date : 30th jan 2019

Result : 20th Feb 2019

YOG :2016

Prep time : little over 2 years with many breaks in btw(yes it took longer than what i had expected from reading many experiences and also delayed exam couple of times )

Assessments : In sequence 

UW 82% 1st time

Nbmes 1-5 (Mistakes in 20s ) during initial stages

Nbme 15 >> 248 1st online just after completing uw (6 months before exam )

NBME 6 ,7 ,11(offline)>>14 mistakes each 5 months before exam

USWA 1 >> 269 4 months before exam

NBME 12 ,13(offline)> 10 mistakes 3-4 months out

NBME 17(online) > 265 10 weeks before

NBME 16(online)>246 8 weeks before

NBME 19(offline)>10 mistakes 4 weeks before

USWA 2 > 264 3 weeks before

NBME 18(online)>267 9 days before

FREE 120 > 90% 4 days before

Real deal : 260

Resources :

Kaplan initially but the core material is Uw , Fa ,pathoma (UFAP)

Only after doing so i had to reinforce some subjects with other sources like anatomy shelf notes ,100 cases for ethics , Bs subject review , anki(uw cards)

q banks > UW , RX(around 1200) , medbullets (1000 ques) , kaplan(genetics and behav portion)

INITIAL PHASE: 

This phase was the most difficult one with so many questions on what ,how ,when and which sources to use as there are many of them , so read many previous experiences and found that starting point was kaplan but you have to choose what works best for you as everyone is unique , so do it in your own unique way and having study partner from start is very helpful

>Started with Kaplan plus lectures for most of subjects except for Micro and Patho (kept Fa along with it )

Physio > kaplan plus Brs for cardio , pulmo , nephro.

Biochem and genetics > Kaplan high yeild for this one.

NeuroAnatomy > kaplan initially( later on high yield )

Immuno > Fa is not enough ,kaplan is high yield for this one.

Micro >sketchy plus Fa 

Pharm > 2010 kaplan lectures

Biostats >kaplan initially (its not your usual subject , gave me nightmares initially so its okay to feel that way dont get frustrated at this stage, trust me you be fine at the end . UW , UW for biostat , NBMEs , doing lots of ques and you will figure out how these ques work, so it will take time )

Behav >> Most difficult one for me and one of the most important for exam but still dont know which resource is best for this one . i tried kaplan ,brs some chapters , step2 uw

Pathoma >>Gold standard for patho.

After finishing these started Fa thoroughly but its very difficult to retain info at this stage and takes time to get use to it from subjects to systems and if you are visual learner like me and need some kind of lectures than would suggest doing with 

boards and beyond (Highly under-rated but its more high yield than any other source for fa )if you have enough time for it.

At this stage did 1-5 offline nbmes not predictable but used as a learning tool and what areas i weak in like biostats , behav , skin etc so that i would focus on these more as i moved forward

MOST IMPORTANT PHASE : UWORLD PLUS FA 

>HIGHEST YIELD SOURCE

>how you do it 1st time is very crucial so would suggest doing it online and annotating it on fa at the same time.

>doesnt matter how long you take it to complete it while thoroughly understanding it , use your maximum time of prep doing uw

>subscribed for 6 months

>I am a slow reader so use to do 20q hardly per day completed 1st read in 5 months and 1 month of incorrect/marked .

as soon as i finished it , did 1st online assessment to know what areas to work on and again biostats , behav , skin , repro , genetics were among weak areas so did more ques for these from rx plus read Fa along with annotations

NBMES and USWA:

>one mistake of mine was doing assessments late in prep , will save you alot of time if u start taking these earlier.

>i had booked the date before i had begun these assessments (16,17,18,19)(mistake) so had to delay it because it felt like i was rushing through.

>would suggest doing offline ones with uw and online at regular intervals after completing uw

>makes you orient towards more high yield things later in prep

>Correctly tells you your weak areas cuz i had same problem again and again in each initial nbme

> so worked on those areas by doing many ques as possible from RX and MEdbullets q bank

>Revision is the key , use to review highly forgettable things before every nbme

>Did step 2 ck uw ques for some portions skin , micro , biostat, behav 

>revising fa plus some BNB lectures for rough topics in btw nbmes

LAST WEEK:( these were highly helpful in exam )

>High Yield pages of fa which i had marked during prep

>ECGS

>XRAY CT scans google

>Googling histo pics those that were present in fa

>Youtube high yield images

>Biostat sub reveiw

>Milestones

>FA rapid review

> Some Uw notes

Night before exam :

Sleep is highly important (duh ! no kidding :p ) but wasnt able to sleep for hours , though not recommended but took minimum amount of alprazolam just enough to make me drowsy , thankfully slept for good 4 hours and felt fresh in morning.

EXAM DAY :

>Felt kind of nervous but confident .

>reached around 8.15 

>exam starts around 9 am sharp 

>skipped tutorial part (check headphone before skipping)

>right after few questions your adrenal gland kick in :D and your mind goes into autopilot mode 

>Questions more like uw and uwsa and stem length in btw uw and nbme

>60- % straight high yield concepts of uw and nbme but presented in a twisted manner to distract you.

>30% hard , multistep questions where they want you to integrate ecg , histo , graphs

>10% wtf some of them never even heard of them

>had 5 mins at the end of each block but could review only 2 ques at max

>took 10 mins break after every block

>last block had all the ecgs , audio and behav ques and lack of sleep effect was starting to show so sleep schedule 2 weeks before exam is important

After exam felt kind of good more like relieved as if aim of my life has been completed :p until i started remembering silly mistakes i made and as days went by more and more nervous , i know its normal for people to experience this but still could not resist it .

Mistakes i made :

1 >Breaks from weeks to months

2>Not starting uw earlier

3>Delayed solving nbmes 

4>Not having a proper schedule and targets at regular 

intervals 

5>Didnt have study partner until later in prep

This step 1 journey makes you feel /suffer every human emotion possible and its okay to go through these phases but just keep going , you are not alone :)

ALL THE BEST , GOD BLESS YOU ALL :)

USMLE step 1 experience by dr.gagan aulakh - score 249

So finally its 249 guys

I won’t repeat the same things over and

over again(discussed in this group many times) ,and it will be very honest and non biased

experience.

I forget very easily so Idk the minor details.

In nutshell

1. NBMEs are super underpredictive, so don’t get discouraged.

2. Do UW nicely

At the end of day you should know the educational objectives of UW ques.

3. Final exam will be fully conceptual like uwsa

4. Exam day and your mentality is super important.

Assessments

Somewhere in aug, 2018 Uwsa 1 – 251

Sep, 24 Nbme 17 – 234

Dec, 16 Uwsa 2 – 243

Dec, 30 Nbme 16 - 230

Jan, 13 Nbme 18 - 238

Jan, 18 Free 120 - 77 %

Jan, 21 – Final exam.

Why NBMEs underpredicts and UWSA predicts

This is my very personal opinion. NBMEs will check how well you memorize FA. If you forget

just only one word the question in NBME will be wrong for sure.

UWSA will check the core concepts. You’ve to drive one thing from another and have to

integrate the concepts, and the question won’t be straight forward. The questions are

usually tilted in some way, exactly same will happen in final exam.

How the final exam will be

Don’t worry guys, most of questions you must have seen somewhere in UW. This is for sure.

The most stereotypical case would be presented to you, ex- 40 yr African American female

having some lung problem must be something with sarcoidosis, like this ( Uw will teach

everything about this)

You’ve to think over there,

Like if question stem is easy the options will be tilted in some way,

If options are easy then question stem will be tilted in some way. You just have to think over

there and apply the UW concept on that thing.

Heart sounds will be always on exam, like always, so do prepare for them. ( I wasn’t)

How to attempt a question

I got this in very end phase of my prep, like in last 15 days

This thing is important too,

As I told you, they will ask the same HY concepts in a different way, same stereotypical case

will be presented, so choose the simplest one, don’t over think , don’t think that how

USMLE people can ask this simple thing,

For example, if there is a male patient with some abdominal pain, and you’re thinking about

acute cholecystitis ,so just review it again, because the stereotypical case is fertile fatty forty

female with abdominal pain,

Another example, second newborn female having some obstruction in GIT, and you’re

thinking about pyloric stenosis then review it again man, because the stereotypical case is

first born male newborn usually presented with pyloric stenosis.

These things you will learn while doing UW.

These are just some examples to tell you guys, what I want to say,

Second thing is, you always have to choose the most appropriate option, always exclude

things, exclude the options,

Third is always look over all the options, I mean it always, even if you’re damn sure about

your choice, still do it,

And keep lab values always open, their monitor screen is too big, not like our laptops, so it

won’t compromise your question stem.

If you’re not sure about Heart sound question, do it in last, don’t waste your time over that,

I took 4 minutes, and I got short of time at last, and 2 questions I left unread.

Manage your time properly, in UWSA 2 I mismanage the time, lest 4 questions unread, same

happened in my final one, though it was because of heart sounds, but can’t blame them too.

Mistakes I’ve done

Took a lot of time for prep, delayed my exam

Did NBMEs with explanations, with lot of extra searching, googling and all, I recommend

this, but only if you’re able to revise before exam, I didn’t revise, so at last I forgot the

questions of NBMEs

Didn’t do the Heart sounds

Unable to manage the time during exam

Underestimated the UW a little bit

The question always bogged down me

Do I’ve to know each and every minor detail of UW

The answer is NO, You just have to know the educational objective, that’s it. UW isn’t like

FA, that there are some hidden words, we usually skips, UW is designed this way, the basic

concept or you call it educational objective, If there is “a word” in the explanation that you

don’t get, it’s okay, focus on the basic concept not on the word and just move on. If that

word is important, UW already made a question on that, it’s now UWs responsibility, LOL.

My resources

FA ( I don’t remember how many times I’ve read that, different chapters, different times)

UW (2 times, 2nd one was just my weak areas shown by NBMEs)

Pathoma ( I did it religiously)

Sketchy micro( highly recommend to those, who forgets very easily like me, and are visual

learner like me)

Did neuro from Dr. Najeeb and Kaplan ( you can leave dr. najeeb, but just don’t leave Kaplan

videos of neuro, you will feel the difference)

Started my prep with Kaplan videos, idk those helped or not.

UW and FA

You need to understand FA, and UW will help in this.

Mentality

I could write a whole post on this,

If you’re positive, happy, confident, and having an instinct that you can do it, then nothing

can stop you.

I live all alone, for so many years, my family is with me on and off ( 80% off), this thing

lagged me. Even on result day I was alone, no one was here to celebrate. But, when I

overcame this loneliness then my prep got better. I know so many people who sacrificed

everything, live alone knowingly to avoid disturbance from family, break up in relationships,

etc.

It may seem helpful in short term, but at last you will be exhausted. At the end of the day,

you need someone, with whom you can talk, share. So don’t get hard on yourself, and

everyone needs some kinda emotional support and all.

No one is supposed to know everything, you can search my questions asked in group, so

many simple questions I’ve asked , even on this day I may not answer very simple

question.

How I jumped from 243 to 249 in a month

Guys I’m being honest with you, idk, seriously idk,

I revised FA with annotations in this month, some chapters once and some twice, didn’t do

UW.

I realized that, this is a matter of how you gonna take the exam.

My exam day

My mom visited me for exam purpose, that thing made me so happy, it took my anxiety

away, we went together,

So the point is I was so happy on that day, so much excited that finally step 1 will be over, it

made a difference guys, trust me.

Don’t be anxious, stay cool and calm.

I took break after every block, I used to wash my face, took a bite of chocolate, a bite of

protein bar, some water and red bull.

I talked to myself in mirror, that everything, will be fine, you’re doing great, good luck

sweetie, etc etc, LOL,

So good luck, guys, be positive and optimistic, you will be fine.

Dr. gagan aulakh

USMLE step 1 experience - score 243

Usmle step 1 experience ..

Assessments (serially)

Nbme 13 :25 mistakes (offline ,2.5 months before exam)

Nbme 15 : 246 (online, 45 days before)

Uwsa1 : 247 (38 days before )

Nbme 16 : 240 (online,31 days before )

Nbme 17 : 13 mistakes ( offline ,24 days before)

Nbme 18 : 250 ( online ,15 days before )

Nbme 19 : 25 mistakes , offline.12 days before 

Free 120 : 88 percent (10 days before)

Uwsa 2 : 258 (9 days before )

Usmle step 1 score : 243..

I am happy with my score .i expected more ..but I am happy ..

My exam was in 28th january and my wedding was in 1st february..i was under immense pressure during my study period.I have many health related problems. hypertension for 1 year..i take medicines regularly for this , asthma since childhood ,dns chronic sinusitis (operated once)and many more ..so if I can get a 243 ..then any medical student can do it I believe.

my main score was lower than uwsa 2 and nbme 18 ,which people say are the moost predictive..the reasons are 

-my exam was difficult and different than the assessments ..few questions were easy and concepts were directly from uw and nbme 17 and 18..but there were many new concepts in each block.spent like 2-3 minutes for em...1st block was the hardest .took whole 60 minutes to finish it ..and I couldn’t review any of the questions in any block.

- I got pharyngitis and tonsillitis with fever 3 days before the exam and couldn’t study at all ..just prayed to get well before the exam ..the only positive thing was , I was able to sleep the night before..

Study materials:

Kaplan all books except patho

Kaplan classroom videos 2014 for biochem(this is gold,dr turco is love), pharma (only general pharma, neuro and cardio), behavioral , physio (general physio ,cardio ,respiratory and acid base disorders) ,neuroanatomy 

pAthoma with videos..very good ..

100 cases of ethics by conrad fischer

30 dirty usmle questions for ethics from utube

Study period : 7 months 

Yog : 2017 may..finished internship in june 2018 .took 3 weeks gap from study which i had to .it slowed me down ..try not to take any long break in your preparation.

I studied 10-12 hours a day ..some days even more and some day less than 8 hours..in our country basic science and paraclinical are way different than usmle ..so it took aalmost 3 months for me to capture the concepts ..

Did kaplan with videos with pathoma and first read of fa in first 2.5 months 

Then started uworld online .first pass took 2 months .78%

Then did 2nd read of fa and took nbme 13 ..

Uworld 2nd round (timed and random) took 1 month [80 questions per day] :94 %

Then read fa 3 times with 2019 new additions (didn’t get any questions from them) and tried to do nbmes 1 week apart upto exam.

Kaplan books and videos : read once but biochem , resp and cardio physio twice

Pathoma :twice

Fa: 5 times ..but I recommend at least 7 times read of fa

Exam was mainly concept based and some questions were straight from memorization. I had a question about cyt p450 subdivisions ,answered it with my eyes closed🤪 .i was good in metabolism but got only one question from it and it was an experimental question..i am sure I got it wrong😅 ..

Some advice : 

>study biostat and epidem ..i got many questions from them ..got 3 questions from confidence interval

>Got 1 angiogram pic ..lateral chest xray pic ,brain cut section...i guess you guys should go through uworld pics at least twice .and ct/mri pics from kaplan

>study genetics and molecular biolgy cleverly..got many questions from them

>youtube all heart sounds ..i got 2 ..

> skip tutorial (its similar to free 120) and take 5-7 minutes break after each block .

>try to keep calm during the exam ..its an 8 hour long exam ..getting a low score doesnt mean ure a weaker student than others ..usmle is a game of perseverence ..keep faith in yourself ,cause u know u studied hard..u can do it ..

.ill try to answer any further questions in the comment sections ...thanks everyone.

USMLE step 1 experience by dr.Kaustubh Pandya - score 244

Usmle step1 244. Its been one ride. This group is the best support group for sure. Those crash courses and brain storming sessions helped a lot. It's the grace of God, a hard-working mother behind this to her I dedicate this. This group is one big help. I would be forever grateful to this.

My goal was 250+. I tried so hard to break that barrier but I accept what has been given. I regret making silly mistakes

on easy questions. But it's a learning lesson. Always follow your gut. I remember thinking:" This is wrong and I still marked it". Happy to help. Will try to break 250 on step2 ck. The dreams still on. 

Once again thanks a ton ....

Preparation time: 1 year. 

Uwsa1: 258

Uwsa2: 256

First pass uworld : 79-80%

Free 120:86%

Nbme 16: 244(16 mistakes) 

Nbme 18: 242(18 mistakes)

I also did other nbmes online and was consistent trying to keep wrongs under 20. For me uwsa2 was over predictive. 

1 week before exam was terrible. Anxiety took over. After 2-3 days I started doing few things which I felt I didn't remember. I slept well and didn't read anything afternoon. I feel it's important to built a residual memory. Because that's what helps. Post exam I knew I did terrible. And was going to fail. I felt as if I did 25-30 questions wrong with only 2 WTF questions. I wasn't fatigued at the end. Try cutting down silly mistakes esp. on easy questions

USMLE step 1 experience by dr.Mark Kumar Khan - score 234

Step 1 experience.. 

exam date jan 22..

Total prep time : on and off 1 year

Nbme 16: 226 (10 months before) 

Nbme 17: 243 (6months before)

Nbme 18: 248 (15 days before) 

Nbme 19: 245 (10 days before)

Uwsa2: 258 (1 week before )

real exam : 234 ... as u see my score is low compared to my assessments... your performance on the exam day matters the most...don’t lose focus at the end stage of your preparation and give your best on exam day.... for me, I lost my focus after booking exam date ( I booked 5 days before the exam) , barely read the books last 5 days and exam day performance was bad ( I missed some questions every block and made many silly mistakes as I recalled later)... anyway , the good thing that finally long preparation for step 1 is over and now I am off to prepare for ck.....

Materials used: u world first aid pathoma were the main.

Brs physiology: this book is real gold

Brs behavioural science questions only... anatomy shelf notes...and kaplan videos at the start

Goljan: felt good while studying... but I don’t think It made a difference while solving questions...

Real exam was similar to uworld length wise and uworld and first aid covered maximum of the questions...

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!!

USMLE step 1 experience - score 238

Step 1 score: 238

Resources used:

1. First Aid 

2. Uworld 

3. NBME 13-19

4. Sketchy 

5. Neuroanatomy Kaplan 

6. Board and Beyond lectures

7. 100 cases Ethics (only reliable source)

Time management is very important. I ran out of time for every block so missed Qs. Direct concepts from Uworld were there so do Uworld well. I had a lot of breaks during prep time and ran out of time for a lot of extra things I wanted to do. Just sleep well before the exam! Alhumdulliah, all the sacrifices are forgotten once your hard work pays off. Good Luck!

NBMEs 15: 219

NBME 16: 248

NBME 17: 240

NBME 18: 238

UWSA 1: 260

UWSA 2: 245

Free 120: 81%

USMLE step 1 experience - score 266

Step 1 experience-266

Got my score finally!! Thanks to the kind people in this group for all their help! I am sharing my experience hoping that it will be helpful to many, as many others' experiences were helpful to me. Plz ask the questions in the comment section and try to refrain from the urge to dm me! God bless u all!!

I started my USMLE journey pretty much in the dark, with no one there to offer 1st hand advice. I learned most of the stuffs by reading experiences of other people from various forums. So, now that I am on the other side of ‘THE GREAT STEP1 EXAM’, I am sharing my experience hoping it will be helpful for many who are now in a position where I was few years back.

Let me start by offering my sincerest thanks to everyone who made this journey possible for me. Thank you gods, my family, friends esp my study partners, my coworkers. Especial thanks to my senior colleagues and the kind genius doctors of USMLE FORUMS and facebook usmle groups from whom I learnt so so much and got so much of guidance. Thank you all!!

This is how my step 1 journey went:

⏩ Total duration: 2 and half years

✔Just surface reading: 1year (during my internship-Only Goljan)

✔A bit serious study for 1 year

✔Dedicated study for next 5 months

✔Closed room study for 1 month

⏩ Materials used:

✔FA (2018): 6-7 times

✔UW offline once, online once, marked questions twice

✔Kaplan videos once ( except pathology, biostat, microbiology) 

✔Kaplan lecture notes (anat-4, bchem-5, behavioral&biostat-3, microbio-2, pharma-5, physio-4 times)

✔Pathoma twice

✔Sketchy (for microbio and only few topics of pharma) : many times

✔All NBMEs (1to19): offline

✔UWSA 1 and 2: online

✔BRS behavioral, Highyield anatomy: only some portion

✔Goljan pathology twice

✔Anatomy shelf notes thrice

✔Ethics: 100 cases, Khan’s cases, usmledirty from youtube

✔Biostat: Randy neil from youtube, uwstep2 offline, Uworld biostat review

✔Heart sounds: Medzcool from youtube, litmann website and where ever else I found them

✔UsmleRx qbank: offline once

✔Boards and beyond videos once

✔A lot of youtube, google and NCBI for additional stuffs

✔My personal notes

⏩ How I rate the resources I used:

✔FA: the priceless resource for step1. Do it as many times as you can. Make it your annotation hub. But don’t make the annotations way too heavy either coz that’s gonna slow you down a lot while revising.

✔UW: I did it offline once and then online. My advice is that its better to do online from the very beginning coz when you do offline first, then when you start doing it online, you feel like most of the questions are new.

✔Kaplan videos: once is enough

✔Kaplan lecture notes: I loved biochem and pharmacology. Also anat has a lot more info than fa. I am more of a book guy rather than a video guy. So I repeated lecture notes rather than Kaplan videos.

✔Pathoma: A golden resource for early stages. Annote everything extra in fa and leave it 

✔Sketchy: This was as important for me as fa and uw. Microbio is really really good. Makes the memorization so so effective. A must do in my opinion.

✔Bnb videos: to the point, short and simply awesome. Do it if you have time. Helps to clear many concepts

✔Goljan: do it if you have time

✔Usmlerx question bank: can be used to figure out hidden info in FA. Do it if you have time

✔NBME: can be used mainly for building stamina and to keep in track your progress rather than as a learning tool. Do in the timed mode

✔Other resources mentioned above: do if you have time and as per your requirement ie to clarify your doubts and strengthen weak areas.

✔UWSA: found them really really tough. Advise to do them both 

✔USMLE preparation forum, facebook group: This was one of the most important resource for me. I learned so much in these forums. Especially to confirm the answers of nbmes.

⏩Assessments (in the order I took them; number of mistakes in the parenthesis; Did all the nbmes by setting timer for 1hr10 min):

✔NBME 6 :7 months back (forgot), 2:6months back(forgot)

✔1(41) and 3(27) on same day- 5months back

✔4(21) and 5(33) on same day- 4months back

✔7(21)-3 months back

✔11 (23)and 12 (25) on same day- 3months back

✔13(22) and 15(26) on same day- 2months back

✔UWSA1: 264- 40 days back

✔NBME 17(10)-35 days back

✔NBME 19 (15)- 25 days back

✔UWSA2: 260-22 days back

✔NBME 16(17) and 18 (17)-18 days back

✔Free 120 (89%)- 15 days back

✔Real exam:266

⏩ Details:

✔1st 1 year: 

I started my step 1 preparation while I was an intern in my medical college. During 1 year of internship, amongst the busy duty hours and the temptation of having fun with my friends during the free time, I managed to go through Goljan once and that’s all I did during my internship. I went through the vast text of goljan, skimming though the text and highlighting important information. I had no one to provide proper guidance then and most of my understanding of USMLE was derived from google.

✔Next 1 year:

After completing internship I started working in a rural health centre where I met two of my senior colleagues who were also preparing for step1 and all of a sudden, the path didn’t seem impossible. But then there were a lot of other struggles like managing study time along side the 24 hours duty, attending and providing trainings, running the health centre as its head, managing internet access in a rural area and so on.

As I started working, I also started with Kaplan lecture notes and videos. The progress was slow and frustrating at times but it was over in a few months after which I moved on to pathoma and then the holy bible FIRST AID , which was a nightmare at first but got easier during revisions.

After 1st read of FA, I moved on to offline UW which was no less a nightmare than FA itself.

✔Last 6months:

Did FA, online UW,BnB videos, Kaplan lecture notes ,NBMEs, Uwsa, revised Goljan once again, used google, youtube and ncbi a lot to clarify my doubts.

While doing nbmes, I did two nbmes on the same day to try to build up my stamina and it paid off well. On the exam day, by the end, I was still full of stamina. I also did 8 blocks a day while doing online uworld.

I solved nbmes regularly and the progress was satisfactory and so were uwsas.

⏩Weaknesses and their solutions:

✔Towards the beginning my main weakness was pharmacology and biochem: going through fa and Kaplan lecture notes again and again and making plenty plenty of mnemonics.

✔Then anatomy seemed to drop my points: Kaplan lecture notes, anatomy shelfnotes, netter atlas for gross pictures, videos from you tube for neuroanatomy

✔Biostat: uw biostat review, step2 uw biostat, randyneil youtube

✔Microbio: sketchy and fa were more than enough

✔Towards the end, ethics and biochem( the secondary messenger system and blots and all) were my major weaknesses. So I revised all the ethics resources I had used and for blots and secondary messenger systems, I used you tube videos.

⏩ Exam day:

Managed to get roughly 6hours of sleep on the previous night, thankfully. Took a light breakfast. Arrived at the exam center way ahead of time. Went through the tutorial quickly ( is same as that of free120) and before I knew it the real exam question was appearing on the screen infront of me. My heartbeat soared and it remained so until the end of 2nd block. Then after I remained relatively calm. Took a break after each block.

Completed each block with 15 to 20 min remaining and was able to review marked questions. Majority of the questions were simple and straightforward but as with everyone, there were 4-5 confusing questions in each block. With some I couldnt figure out what the question was trying to ask while with others ,the questions were simple but two of the options were confusing. I got only one calculation question. Rest of the questions from biostat were theoretical type. Heart sounds were pretty clear and the diagnosis was quite obvious from the cv itself. ECGs were pretty straightforward as well.

Time was more than adequate for me and fatigue was not a problem either. This I credit to doing all nbmes and uw blocks in timed mode and 8 blocks in a single day.

Post exam days were stressful as I had so many doubtful questions and I couldn’t find the answers anywhere. I knew I had made 2-3 silly mistakes and those kept on haunting me. But the end result was good and I feel so grateful for that. My aim was to obtain as high a score as possible. When the score finally came, I wasn’t super psyched but I was psyched nevertheless and I had no complaints either. Mostly, I was relieved that it was over. Looking forward to crush CK now.

⏩ Main points:

✔First and foremost, get a study partner. Someone to discuss the stuffs with, to motivate one another and to stay on track. USMLE is a frustrating, depressing, tough long long journey and its very difficult to go through it alone.

✔Trust your score. Data rarely lie.

✔Always do nbme on timed mode. You don’t need to do all. 11 and onwards will suffice but if you have time, its best to do all nbmes.

✔Revise FA as many times as you can

✔Use the facebook groups and forums 

✔You will have to sacrifice a lot during the journey. Don’t hesitate to do so. A supportive family and close friends will ease your pain during the journey.

✔Keep on revising FA at least upto 3-4 days before exam

✔Preparing for step1 while holding a full time job is really tough and yet there are many

who make this possible! Managing time to study and getting approval for the leave is really hard and consumes alot of your time and energy. Kudos to all those doctors who are preparing for step1 while holding a full time job! Dont give up!! You arenot alone. I did it, many more before me did it and so can you! 

✔Many many a times during your preparation, you will feel like giving up; you’ll start questioning if you are the dumbest person in the whole wide world and if all this is worth it. Many people will make you feel like giving up. But always keep the end result in sight and remember that everyone feels the same. Keep your family and dear friends close and give your best and it will soon be over.

ALL THE BEST!!!! God bless you all.

USMLE step 1 experience by dr. Sai Prasanna - score 240

Hi friends,

I am an IMG from India and I wanted to share my Step 1- 240 experience in this forum and give back to the community which has helped me.

I was in the second batch of my medical college and hence did not have much guidance from within my college. However, I was fortunate to have the guidance from other people who I got acquainted during my preparation.

Preparation time: 3 months in summer 2018 and 1 month during the winter break.

Materials used: God's grace> Self confidence> Hard work> Smart work> FA> UWORLD> First Aid Express videos> DIT videos>UWorld SA> NBME

Goal: I wanted to get into Anesthesia program so my goal was to get something above a 240.

Graduation year: 2016

Note: I had to break my prep between summer and winter breaks since I am in a masters program.

In Summer 2018-

First Pass FA with DIT videos (May-June 2018):

I first started with First Aid, however, I soon realized that it would make more sense for me to go through the book as I watch the videos since I found FA to be concentrated revision material and not for the purpose of understanding. 

Therefore, I started watching the DIT videos and annotating my FA book simultaneously if there was something that was not clear for me in the book. Annotating was super useful coz it helped me have everything in one place. I could not have finished my First pass of FA without DIT!

NBME 18: 203

Uworld 2 times (July 2018):

I did U world completely twice. The first time I went through every single answer, annotated it in my FA meticulously using post its and different color pens. I had the idea of highlighting words which were the keys to answering U world question. I highly recommend highlighting them with a particular color sketch that would not be used for other purposes. I will tell you why soon! 

The second round of Uworld I completed by just going through the educational objective. This helped me reinforce my memory of the Uworld questions.

NBME 19: 215

Second pass FA along with USMLERx videos(December 2018- Jan 2019):

Firstly, these videos are great! They take you through the pages of FA highlighting the important points to retain. Also 

I highly recommend this method of studying along with videos because it lets u focus and also keeps the pace.

UWSA 2: 241

Revision: last 2 days only! ( Trust me- u do not want to do this-Definitely take more time for revision!) 

I was able to do this in 2 days ONLY because I had highlighted the high yield points in U world questions using a particular type of highlighter. I had only enough time to skim through those highlighted points and reinforce my memory.

The night before the exam- I thought I was pretty confident about my exam, however, that night for some unknown reason I could sleep for only 2 hours! It was so unexpected for that to happen to me (who usually catches a good 8 hours of sleep)- especially on a night when it was extremely important for me to catch a good sleep.

So, I strongly suggest that you all go to bed early on the day of the exam and carry a fearless attitude right from the beginning of the exam preparation so that your subconscious lets you sleep on the night before the exam!

Exam day: Took some light lunch and sugary drinks. 

First session- 2 blocks- was great!

Snack break

Second session-3 blocks- was not up to expectations as I was feeling a little drowsy by the third block. 

Lunch break

Third session-2 blocks- don't remember how this went, all I remember is sitting on that chair and smiling to myself thinking of how it is all going to end soon!

3 weeks later: Score: 240