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 ❤️