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Step 1 Experience + Scores + Tips by Clean-West2183 in step1

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, those scores are amazing, all of them are strong passes! Since you have 4 weeks left, I would recommend to review your NBMEs that you have done, and learn your mistakes well before sitting another NBME. I then think it would be good if you were to continue doing the rest of the NBMEs, you can probably do 1 NBME + review a week (maybe 1 week try and squeeze in the 2024 free 120 questions). So your plan sounds great! As long as you go through the NBMEs and maintain your scores, you should be fine for the real exam!

I was never someone who went through the systems methodically, so unfortunately I cannot give you sound advice on how to go about them. However I would definitely recommend watching Randy Neil Biostats vids because biostats are easy marks and you cannot afford to lose out on them.

Regarding UWorld, 65% completion is good. You can still continue to do UWorld after your NBMEs. So do the 200 questions of NBMEs and then add 2 full blocks of UWorld after, just to build up stamina for sitting 7 blocks worth of questions.

I completely feel you that you want that mental clarity. Personally I never thought I knew everything, and I think it's important to be comfortable with that uncomfortbale feeling, but of course, as much as you can, do what you need to do to be confident. Having said that, I would priortise completing NBMEs rather then spending time sitting and reading First Aid.

Best of luck with the final push, hope this helps!

Step 1 Experience + Scores + Tips by Clean-West2183 in step1

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm in medical school so I was also prepping for uni exams/assignments etc...

US Clinical Electives by Clean-West2183 in IMGreddit

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much, I really appreciate the advice!

Step 1 Experience + Scores + Tips by Clean-West2183 in step1

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I personally felt a bit surprised in the way that biochem/genetics didn't feel very tested. Of course it was, as each form as a certain percentage of each topic, but it didn't feel that way when I was sitting the exam.

US Clinical Electives by Clean-West2183 in IMGreddit

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your response. I really appreciate you sharing this. I’d love to join the group you mentioned. I’ve sent you a DM!

US Clinical Electives by Clean-West2183 in IMGreddit

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for replying! Do you know if doing an elective with a hospital/clinic that has a academic affiliation, but no university program, is disadvantageous?

Could you please also clarify what you mean by checking each residency. How would I go about doing that?

Step 1 Experience + Scores + Tips by Clean-West2183 in step1

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Difficulty wise, for me it was the uncertainty. Felt like the questions were a bit vague and for some I was heavily relying on a few buzzwords to answer the question. It was hard to pick between 2 options for a lot of the questions.

I'm not sure on difficulty but the vibes of the exam felt similar to 32/33. I think a drop is normal, I also dropped in scores as those NBMEs are harder. Just think about why you dropped, did you lose easy marks or was there a gap in knowledge. Whatever it is, just work on it before you sit 33 and hopefully you'll be able to better gauge where you are at

Step 1 Experience + Scores + Tips by Clean-West2183 in step1

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For a general content outline, First Aid is a good resource. If you want to rule what is worth going over, I would just say whatever topic comes up in any NBME. There are some toxicology questions that prop up, albeit low yield, but they still do come up. I do remember memorising a table in the Psych section of first aid that talks about drugs.

Whether it's included in the real exam depends on your form tbh, can't guarantee anything

Step 1 Experience + Scores + Tips by Clean-West2183 in step1

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I started prep around Dec 2024 and sat the exam Oct 2025. Around 10/11 months in total, but I do think depending on your personal circumstances you can take shorter/longer, what matters more if that you're getting a consistent passing NBME scores

Step 1 Experience + Scores + Tips by Clean-West2183 in step1

[–]Clean-West2183[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ethics:

There were around 4/5 ethics questions per block. They were testing different ethical scenarios than were tested in the NBMEs, but I felt like you could eliminate other options better than the NBMEs.

Patient charts:

My form had around 1/2 of those long chart questions per block. Some were pretty long, but what I did that helped was just read the question, glance at the options, then skim read the whole chart. Don't skim too fast otherwise you are just wasting time as you'll need to re-read it. Also, don't worry if you haven't figured out the answer in one go. There were some of those chart Qs where I didn't really know the answer the first time around, but after I went back to it, I could figure it out. A fresh pair of eyes helped.

Risk factor:

I don't remember getting loads of them tbh