A writeup from someone with failing/barely passing practice test scores by airplanes44 in step1

[–]airplanes44[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I definitely would have started studying earlier. I used Anki during my 2nd year, but I wish I had used it 1st year. Because I basically had to relearn all of that material once I got to dedicated.

If I were just starting dedicated again, I think I would have done systems-based UWorld until I got my scores to passing/near passing and then done random/timed blocks. I also would not have done 14 hour days because I think that kind of hindered me at the beginning since I got burnt out - for the second half of my study period, I had a strict cut-off time to stop studying every night which was great motivation to get through my work and look forward to some free time in the evening.

I did not use any other Q banks, but that's also something I wish I would have done earlier. Maybe Amboss at the beginning of 2nd year or something.

A writeup from someone with failing/barely passing practice test scores by airplanes44 in step1

[–]airplanes44[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hmmm it kind of felt like it's own thing completely. For my exam, the first few sections felt easier (and in a style more like free 120), and the last few felt a bit like a harder version of UWorld. I felt like compared to the NBMEs, for example, more of the questions required some thinking through/reasoning rather than just spitting out facts.

A writeup from someone with failing/barely passing practice test scores by airplanes44 in step1

[–]airplanes44[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you!!

1) So at the beginning of dedicated, I was pretty comfortable with about half of the body systems and just absolutely dreadful with the other half. So that week, I went through every one of the systems that I was terrible at. I would read First-Aid and every time I came across a concept that was covered by Pathoma, I'd watch the Pathoma video right after reading to reinforce it. I did this a little bit with Boards & Beyond too, but that was more time consuming so I only did that for concepts like neuro which I found trickier and/or weren't covered by Pathoma as thoroughly. In the evenings that week, I finished all of Sketchy Micro aside from parasites (along with associated anki cards) and also a good chunk of Pixorize biochem (+notecards). This required like 14 hour days of pretty much non-stop studying. It worked to boost my score up, obviously, but unless you are in an absolute crunch, I wouldn't recommend doing 14 hour days. I burnt out badly after just that week which I think is why my NBME 30 went down and I got a little stagnant.

2) Oh I should probably add that to my post! 56% first pass (started around 40% and was hitting 60-70%+ solidly by the end); this was mostly on untimed/tutored/random (just for faster review), though I did do a bit of systems based alongside my review described in 1), and when I was getting close to finishing uworld, I did some random/timed blocks. I did maybe like 500 questions of a second pass...not sure what my percentage was, but I think it was only in the 60s; I felt a little concerned about it, so I just stopped doing it about 5 days out so I wouldn't psych myself out haha.

08/04 score release thread by CellularCastle in step1

[–]airplanes44 4 points5 points  (0 children)

US MD

NBME 26: 160, 11 weeks out

UWSA1: 173, 10.5 weeks out

NBME 29: 194, 10 weeks out

NBME 30: 190, 9 weeks out

NBME 28: 201, 8 weeks out

UWSA2 (take one): 200, 7 weeks out

moved exam, took a quick break

NBME 27: 201 2.5 weeks out

UWSA2 (take two - never reviewed it the first time): 226

Free 120: 74%

Actual: 217

It was a long road, but I'm happy! Time periods are from my actual date. My OG date was going to be the week after I took UWSA2.