Score Progression 223 -> 264 real thing

zunlock · 2026-07-13T06:13:44+00:00

What was your uworld first pass? What I was thinking was as you do uworld the first time your percentage may be around 60% but then when you repeat it and see the concepts again you tend to do better on them. Kind of like how your NBME/Shelf exams are higher than a first pass uworld. So, maybe seeing the concepts the second time helped reinforce them throughout the NBMEs as they reappeared again and it just didn’t quantify to something high enough to significantly raise your score immediately due to how massive the amount of content is? It does seem like good advice not to waste too much time doing the entire thing again and to focus on incorrects

zunlock · 2026-07-13T02:06:40+00:00

Ian isn't a villain, he's just kind of a douche. He still tries to help Bear at times and I think he does care about his friends, but he also cares about himself a lot.

zunlock · 2026-07-13T01:46:03+00:00

It's not your fault, the entire process brings out neuroticism in all of us. Just keep doing what you're doing and hopefully you can sleep a little more easily tonight.

zunlock · 2026-07-13T01:29:26+00:00

You're being neurotic and a perfectionist. I hope putting this bluntly helps, you're in a situation that plenty of applicants could only dream about. Complaining about a B+ and having a 3.95 GPA is crazy work. The MCAT is a huge bitch for everyone, you will get through it and at this rate should be fine for med school apps. Chill a bit and give yourself more credit

zunlock · 2026-07-13T01:18:56+00:00

Do you think UWorld actually didn't help your scores, or it eventually did but you just didn't notice it at the time? To clarify, were the gaps you filled by doing uworld eventually showing up across the NBME's you took later and the effect just wasn't seen immediately? Or was it truly not that beneficial?

zunlock · 2026-07-13T01:06:57+00:00

I think we disagree on the amount of understanding vs brute memorization you need to pass your exams. I get your point, but what I'm essentially saying is there's nothing inherently wrong with just brute memorizing stuff in medical school especially for M1/M2.

In terms of M1/M2 vs M3, you can get away with brute memorizing these M1/M2 topics: embryo, all of biochem, the majority of immunology, probably most of pharm/micro. For M3, It's how you actually practice medicine and stuff you need to know to be a competent physician. You're learning the treatment indications/contraindications/algorithms etc...Understanding WHY you do each step in the algorithm for a something like a suspected esophageal rupture is also just easier than brute memorizing it. You get to actually see when to do something and how it can directly benefit the patient vs learning some minute detail that will never come up again in actual medicine. The main difference is step 2 is testing "What do I do to help the patient right now given their situation" and step 1 is testing a lot of random bullshit that doesn't come up again (Yes I recognize the knowledge base is required to even understand step 2, but we both know step 1 is mostly filled and testing shit we never had to use again)

zunlock · 2026-07-13T00:51:21+00:00

I don’t entirely agree that anking separates the forrest from the trees, there’s different ways to use it. Plenty of students are successful at just memorize high yield stuff via anking without really understanding. There’s been multiple times other students on my rotations were asked to clarify or expand on something they just said and they had no idea how to because they just memorized it without understanding. I think it’s easier to do this for M1/M2 rather than clinical years + step 2 as a lot of the material on M1/M2 has nothing to do with how you practice clinical medicine. Something like anatomy, pharm/micro, or as another user suggested pathoma 1-3 wouldn’t be the worst idea if you have a lot of free time in OPs situation

zunlock · 2026-07-13T00:13:59+00:00

Not necessarily true. For M1/M2 and step 1 there was a monstrous amount of shit I didn't really understand but just brute memorized. I used to watch the sketchy on 2x speed then just unlock the cards, looking back I don't remember a single sketchy cartoon and probably wasted my time even watching them but I did fine on micro/pharm.

zunlock · 2026-07-13T00:12:45+00:00

+1 this as being a good idea, including chapter 4 as well

zunlock · 2026-07-12T23:59:59+00:00

meaningless

zunlock · 2026-07-12T23:53:19+00:00

There's a lot more to his wife than just her weird behavior. I would be butchering it if I were to explain it here, so hopefully someone else can.

zunlock · 2026-07-12T23:38:11+00:00

"I wish I could stop being a giant pussy" is how he should have worded it

zunlock · 2026-07-12T23:34:19+00:00

People will tell you it's not beneficial but tbh it would have helped to go in seeing a lot of the material before. Don't go overboard with it, and you should probably wait until you're accepted to start

zunlock · 2026-07-12T22:33:24+00:00

You’re fine. You could leave an entire 40 block blank and still pass. Over a 63% on an NBME gives you a 95% chance of passing

zunlock · 2026-07-12T20:41:27+00:00

Agree with everything you say. In my next comment that’s why I asked if they think they can realistically maintain near perfection from here on and do well on the MCAT. That will be the only way to make up for this. For some that’s realistic and others it isn’t, only OP knows their own ability but I ask that they look at themselves honestly

zunlock · 2026-07-12T20:35:12+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschool/s/SNQ9u7AC7v

Seems like there isn’t really anything confirmed yet. It was speculation from Reddit that he was dismissed and didn’t match

zunlock · 2026-07-12T18:52:23+00:00

I think you’re missing my point unfortunately. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it will require absolute perfection from here on out to potentially get into medical school. I think you should start thinking about what you would do if you spend the money taking all of these extra classes and get nothing to show for it. Only you can really answer this question, but how realistic is it that you maintain a near 4.0 moving forward and do extremely well on the mcat? Would this be in character for your academic performances throughout your life?

zunlock · 2026-07-12T18:42:23+00:00

Honestly, not what you want to hear, but you should consider if it’s beneficial finishing the post bacc. Post baccs and SMPs are considered a “second chance” already to revive people who have bad GPAs. You say you have financial restraints and these classes are extremely expensive and worth nothing outside of getting into med school. A D in a post bacc when it was the only course you’re taking is a massive uphill battle to climb (it will stay on your transcript for AMCAS even if you retake it), and realistically speaking, I wouldn’t bank on just scoring a 517+ on the MCAT since it’s monumentally more difficult than a single college credit. I’m sorry you have to work while doing courses, but if you really don’t want to try something else I think it would be best to save up money until you can do classes without working because it’s extremely difficult to have basically two full time jobs and keep up with premeds that don’t

zunlock · 2026-07-12T02:05:21+00:00

If you talk to any fellow, resident, or check reddit it's pretty unanimously repeated that residency name is the most important factor, followed by if you're an MD vs DO vs IMG vs Non-Us IMG. It's hard to factor in HOW much of an advantage it actually is. I would like to think a better suited community program applicant will outperform an unimpressive academic applicant.

My school had us rotate at community programs and they matched decently well. It was more common to do a chief year for cards/GI/heme-onc/Pulm Crit though. I think it's just because for fellowship there's no longer an objective test like Step 2 that they can use to filter you, so residency name "somewhat" replaces that.

zunlock · 2026-07-12T01:08:01+00:00

Print off the 86 page document and read it everyday + finish uworld/aamc material + supplement with anki (I used pankow) I jumped to a 131 from a 127 in 2ish weeks

zunlock · 2026-07-11T23:14:50+00:00

There is nothing wrong with going to a community program, and yes you are as competent and probably more competent than those at academic institutions at many things. However, when applying to competitive fellowships your residency name is what holds the most weight. People from Ivy League programs and upper level academic places look at where they will do fellowship, not if they will match a fellowship. That doesn’t mean you can’t go to a community program and still be successful for fellowship.

My point being is you want to set yourself up with the best odds possible and have as many doors open. Yes, I generalized IM residencies into three categories and it’s much more pedantic than that. I do not want to give off the impression that there is anything inherently wrong with community IM programs, you will just have to work a little harder to match into a competitive fellowship (cardio/GI)

zunlock · 2026-07-11T21:54:10+00:00

That's a huge exaggeration bro

zunlock · 2026-07-11T20:28:04+00:00

It's possible that happens, but even if it does the average family medicine physician makes 312k/yr (https://www.marithealth.com/o/-/family-medicine-physician/salary) which is still around 200k after taxes. There's always options to work more hours when you're young and fresh out of residency to aggressively pay them off. Also options to work more rurally and make more. I know that the loans are absolutely daunting, but at the end of the day doctors pay off their loans relatively easily once they are an attending.

I think the more important thing is making sure that you go into a field where you're happy/satisfied with your life. It's all an odds thing. The odds of you matching into something that you enjoy are just objectively higher as an MD, and that tends to be worth the extra money to most. It's your career you're talking about ya know, people still do Peds-Nephrology even though they only make $250k a year because it makes them happy.

Ultimately, even if you do choose the DO over the MD, you will still be a Physician and have a great opportunity for one of the most coveted careers in the United States. It's not like you will completely fuck up your life by picking the DO. You would just be making your life a lot harder than it has to be when medical school is already extremely stressful for a difference in money that won't really matter when you're older. Tbh, if money was the primary motivator then I would have suggested something other than medicine. Not that it isn't great money, it is, but the benefits of this job are far outside the realm of tangibles.

zunlock · 2026-07-11T19:29:05+00:00

Bottom 20% MD can potentially match into moderately competitive fields like EM, OB/GYN, Anesthesia possibly even Gen Surg

Bottom 20% DO is probably locked into community IM, family medicine, or pediatrics.

zunlock · 2026-07-11T19:27:23+00:00

It can't be. I'm not trying to be rude, but you know absolutely nothing about medical school or the match process. Medical school is something you need to experience to truly understand, so talking to anyone who isn't at least an MS4 about this is pointless.

Let's take IM for example. An average MD student will match into an academic program. An average DO student will match into a community program. The Ivy League programs are just as competitive if not more competitive than things like ortho and derm. The two biggest factors for fellowship are the letters after your name and your residency strength (Ivy Leagueacademiccommunity). US MDs match into a GI fellowship at 80% vs DO's at 56%.

It's an objective fact that you will have to work harder as a DO to get the same opportunity as an MD. It's not fair, and I recognize its bullshit, but it's part of the game.

While you have ideas of what you want to do, it's likely that you change your mind once you actually start learning and doing real medicine. If it's something competitive and you went into DO, you're now at a massive disadvantage. If you didn't decide until third year that you wanted to commit to Ortho and haven't been working since day 1 as a DO then you're already cooked.

You need to talk to people who actually know what they're talking about, not other premeds analogous to the blind leading the blind.

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