1)Medhat Farawati 276

2)My USMLE step 1 Experience : 248

Firstly let me describe my background in brief.I graduated from medical college in 2013 and
I took step 1 in 2015 December. At that time I had fogotten most of my basic sciences which
was taught during initial years of the medical school, and the content of USMLE was diffrent
from what we were tought and studied. so I had to start from the begining. And I was an
average student at the medical school, just passed the finals with no classes or honours. But
for the usmle I had a real passion.

I spend 6 month of preparation, initial 2 months 4 to 6 hours per day. then 10 to 12 hours per
day. I ate well, slept 8hours , evening used to go for a bicycle ride for 1 hour, and do my
studies. I enjoyed my studies with my girlfriend, over the phone most of the time. we took a
cheap couple package to discuss things. Two people studing together was slow but kept us in
the track for long hours.

My main study source was U World Step 1. It helped me to develop a problem based
approach to studies which kept me awake, unboared most of the time. since I couldnt focus
on a book for a long period continuosly, I reffered to First Aid book along with mcqs in the u
world. I watched kaplan videos in between, to make a difference to the routine. Kaplan
videos were useful in the areas of Physiology,Biochemistry,Microbiology. Pathoma book and
the videos were very good to develop an understanding in Pathology. And they were quite
interesting to watch.

Every day I did one to two mcq blocks from UWorld and studied the answers with the book.
It was really hard to do two blocks at the first round because they cover a huge area, and time
flows faster when we start to review mcqs.

I did 3 rounds of Uworld. second round 3 to 4 blocks per day, last round in last 2 weeks I did
6 blocks per day to develop the tolerence, and the practise for the real exam. We were very
busy at that time.

in my next post i will write about the last few weeks of my preparation in detail.
3)samren17 Step 1 experience - Finally!
Hey guys,

I have been waiting for this day for a long time now. I will try to be as honest as
much as I can with this message.
I am a graduate from a med-school in Ukraine. I took 2 years to clear this exam.
Yeah that's a long time but I had few disturbances and other things to take care of in
between but I will still count that as the time I have taken to give the exam cause I
graduated in 2011 and have passed the exam in 2013 and that is what it will be
looked as by everyone.

My knowledge of medicine was zero. I did not know what beta-blockers was, I did
not know what sympathetic and para-sympathetic systems meant, I did not know
what renin or hormones were - basically I had no medical knowledge when I walked
out of my med-school with my degree. Why? I blame no one but myself. Sure
conditions there are harder to study but if a person really wants to study they can no
matter what happens. So I will not blame my med-school or Ukraine for my lack of
knowledge.

From Ukraine I went to the US and stayed at my sisters place (luckily I have family
that were going to support me).

For 7-9 months I did videos and notes (basically building vocabulary). I did Najeeb
videos (very good for building basics but very long). I primarily focused on Kaplan
videos and notes.
Then I started doing uworld questions (untimed, subject wise) which i think was my
biggest mistake/cause for taking so long. Because my knowledge then wasn't strong
enough to tackle MCQs. I should have done FA or DIT or Pathoma.
So I did one round of uworld and kaplan q bank - that took me a hell of a lot of time.
I wouldn't say wasted but it wasn't the most ideal way to study at that stage.

I did a bunch of NBMEs in between (will post scores later). I was still very
disappointed with my scores, then I found DIT and pathoma. If I could go back and
do something I think I would have done DIT and pathoma again to consolidate my
knowledge which would have helped me understand the MCQs better.
My uworld scores (random, timed) gradually improved from 30's to 40's to 50's to
60's and sometimes hit 70's as well - I became quite confident at that time that I can
do something worthy in the exam.

July 31st was the last date of my EXTENDED eligibility period and that was like the
only session available in that one week time in that prometric center and it had been
3 years since I went back home (which is India) so it was like all factors were
pointing to me just going for it and seeing what happens and I'm glad I did.

I have a problem with reading. I cant just sit and read a book like that. So doing FA
for me was next to impossible which is why DIT and pathoma helped immensely.

There were plenty of days/weeks even months ill say I tried reading FA so that I
could finish it and give a test but I never managed to finish the book and my test
scores were awful so that was a real downer - so if someone wants to take
something away from this - my message would be - figure out what works for you
and study accordingly cause fitting into other peoples method is (maybe possible)
but not worth it, and it will make you feel more content if you do it your way. cause
all the concepts are actually very interesting even if you dont like to read. there are
still interesting concepts about the human body which we will use for the rest of our
lives.

My hope now is to study for the step2 exams and finish them by august and apply
for residency. I'm not aiming for any of the high end fields. In fact the exact
opposite. I always was very interested in sports so ideally I would like to do sports
medicine but I shall take each challenge as it comes.

NBME 5 -----15th February------300/175

NBME 6 ------2nd March------260/165
UWSA 2 -------15th March ------ 440/204
NBME 11 ------ 26th March ------340/184
UWSA 1 -------- 30th March ------ ?/194
NBME 15 --------15th July ------- 330/182
NBME 13 -------- 22nd July -------380/193

Step 1 score ----- 31st July ----- 198

Again it was very risky to give it with those scores but I had tremendous amount of
help from many people in this forum but especially from pawan malchandani. he
gave me a lot of confidence in the end and some guidance which i think was key in
getting me a passing score.
I shall work as hard as possible now for the next exams and hopefully I match into a
residency program.
a big thank you to the moderators of this forum, i learnt a great deal from this forum
even if it was opening it randomly and reading a question posted by someone. that
could have possibly helped me in some question.

So good luck to everyone preparing for this exam and congrats to everyone who are
done with it.
I dont really have a punch line to end my long message with but ill give it a shot -
Man plans and God laughs, but if man works God rewards.
4)Dont' Panic, You CAN DO IT
Hi guys,

I was an inactive member (almost) of this forum...but I was following up the new
releases and recent information per se.
and in fact this forum help me a lot.
first of all I would like to say that i have not taken any prep classes for step 1.
secondly i was not a big fan of licking different sources of study material.

My study plan and duration:

Total time for prep of step 1-4.5 momths
about 1.5 moth in betn- i had a **** period d/t some distractions
real time - 3 - 3.5 mths

Sources:
FA - Bible/Qur'an/Geeta or whatever u call
Kaplan Lecture Notes - gold standard
Dr najeeb - v good in some topics to understand
NBME 13 - 230 1 month before exam
USWSA 2 - 245 3 wks before exam.

Exam Day Experience:

I was not worried about the exam till the exam day but the last hour before my
departure to test center was really terrible...omg...never faced such stress.
but after arriving to test center everything settled down.
block 1 - tough enough
block 2 - better than 1
block 3 and 4 - in between 1 and 2
block 5,6,7 - easier. i mean much better than 1 and 3.
WTF q @ 1-2 in each block- n all from bioastat n epidemiology.
mind storming but doable c effort q , @3-4 in block 1-4 and @ 2 in block 5 6 7
hardest part of the test- epidemiology >biostat> genetics>ethics.rest subj just fine.

Time management:
block 1 n 2- cont,
then break after every block c red bull booster in last 2 blocks(really helps guys,
have it).
suggestions--- don panic,it's not that hard as u guess, it's almost like nbme forms in
complexity(but the content totally different).pay ur full attention to epidemiology,
biostat, for rest subj FA is enough if u really understand the content there(it does not
mean that u just learn by heart).

Big hug n thanks to my friend who helped to ace my exam thru this forum.
(somebody in Sacramento? PM me plz).

If u have any queries, just let me know, I'll write u.

5)Hey guys, as a brief introduction, I am a medical student in Malaysia

(at south east Asia), and I did my step 1 on the 11th February, and got my score a
few days ago.

I prepped for the USMLE during my 2nd year which is March last year, and started
getting serious is the final 3 months.

I used basically used Kaplan books for all subjects except Patho which is
used Goljan's Rapid Review. As for anatomy, I also used High Yield Neuroanatomy. I
covered the books till 3 months before the exam, where I started question banks.

Added : While I am covering the Kaplan books, I would watch the Kaplan videos to
pace myself. I feel that studying with the videos along with the books is not as
boring as studying only on the books alone. I have to travel up and down my
university everyday, and I spend almost an hour in the car everyday, that is when I
will listen to the Goljan Audio. I would say I had went through 3 times of Goljan
Audio by the time I sit for my Step 1. But somehow I feel the Audio is quite old, and
the questions are changing. Then again, it is from Goljan that I learn that the
emphasis of the exam is for us to make as much linkage between everything as
possible.

During the last 6 months, I started annotating my First Aid heavily. In the end, while
I am doing the question banks, I used mainly First Aid while occasionally referring
back to Goljan and Kaplan.

I completed 2 question banks, USMLE Rx and UWorld. In mid November, I finished

half of USMLE Rx. During December, I did both USMLE Rx and UW side by side. I
completed USMLE Rx at the beginning of January with the average of 70%. During
January till 4 days before my exam, I was doing UWorld. I finished UWorld 1 week
before my exam, with an average of 69%.
On the final 2 weeks, I was just doing mainly NBMEs and UWSA. Added together,
they provide quite a huge sum of questions.

In between study bursts, I would surf usmle forums just to have a feel that I am not
in this alone. Throughout my study periods, I would say a short prayer before I
study that I may be able to concentrate, and I would say a short prayer before I
sleep that I may be able to retain what I studied. I received loads of support from
my girlfriend and family. I think the key to going through the hard times of preparing
for the Step 1 is to know that we are all just weak human beings, and we need
support and help from our god and also the people who love and care for us. I know
I could never could have gotten through that period alone.

I did NBME 1-3 and NBME 7 offline.

I did NBME 4,5,6 online.

Here is the list of my NBME/UWSA scores in chronological order. My exam date is on

the 11th February.

UWSA 1 (21st Jan) : 247

NBME 6 (29th Jan) : 240
NBME 5 (3rd Feb) : 229
On the 5th of Feb, I did NBME 4 (249) and UWSA 2 (256) back to back.

The last few days before the exam was just revising, especially the weak areas I
have which I analyzed from NBME, UW, and UWSA.

There are many things which I planned to do 1 year ago when I planned my
preparation, which I ended up did not have the time to do. Throughout my final
month, I had been quite easily distracted, and had not put up the hard effort which I
initially planned to put. Throughout the last few weeks, I would only study average
of 5-6 hours a day. I know during the last few days of my prep that I do not deserve
any high score despite my relatively good NBME and UWSA scores, which I would
attribute mainly to guessing.

The day before my exam, I took a big break, watched movie in the cinema, and
watched TV, and just spent time with my girlfriend. I went to bed at 9.30pm, but
could not sleep till about 1-2am. Probably because for the past weeks I had been
sleeping at 1-3am everyday. I should have slept at the same time I would plan to
sleep every night during the last week.

On the exam day, my questions were quite okay for me. I would say a short
prayer before and after and even during every block. I am a Christian, but have not
been really religious till I realize that I could never have survived this exam till I
learn that only through God's help can I ever pass this exam, or even succeed in
anything in life. I know that I do not know well of many many topics, and thankfully,
not much of the things I do not know came out in my blocks, and I could only thank
God for that. You could say it was luck or coincidence, but for me, I believe that God
is helping me pass this exam, even though I do not deserve it any single bit.

I took plenty of short breaks throughout the exam and called my girlfriend just to
talk to her.

Finally, I ended the exam and was smiling all the way out of the prometric center,
and I felt like a heavy burden has been lifted from me.

3 days ago, I got my results. It was a 251/99 and I can only thank God for that. I
had been really blessed to receive a bunch of people to help and guide and support
me along my whole path, especially my girlfriend, my family and my close friends,
and also the people of USMLE Forums, especially the forum staffs, who have
answered patiently all the silly questions I posted.

Thank you guys!!

6)My experience with step 1(264) &
2CK(265)
Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum and have been looking at it for past few weeks. Unfortunately,
when I was preparing for these exams, I was not aware of this forum. First of all I
would like to say thank you to the staff (Sabio, Steptaker and all) and the members
for making this site what it is today!

I truly believe that one should never copy the study pattern of another, but should
develop his/her own pattern that suits the most to their needs. I will mention the
study material I used while preparing for these two exams and if someone finds it
useful, it'll be my pleasure!

For step 1, I used KLN, Goljan RR Pathology, FA (as a reinforcer), Lippincott

biochemistry for genetics, BRS behavior science and most importantly, UW QBank.
Towards the end, I did NBME 7 and UWSA 1 and 2.

For step 2CK, I used KLN for CK, MTB for step 2CK and some topics from CMDT
2011. Again most importantly UW QBank and in the end NBME 7 and UWSA.

But the real thing I wanted to tell everyone is don't over burden yourselves with
these exams. Honestly I'm an average student, graduated from an average medical
college of India. I'm serious when I say that if I can do this, you can do it better!
There is no secret to these exams, we all know which books to read, which QBanks
to solve. It's only about hard work and dedication. Everyone of knows most of thing
that will come in the exam, we all have graduated from a medical college after all,
one of the toughest courses there could be! And those who write the review books
like Kaplans FAs, they are truly masters of this field and they write everything for us
that is needed for the exams. The key does not lie in WHAT we read, but HOW we go
about it. Being faithful towards prep and ourselves is the "secret ingredient" (for all
the Kung fu Panda fans!). I would never give an advice of what you should read and
from where you should read, my only advice is be dedicated and enjoy your studies
and life at the same time! This is just a "step" and our ultimate destination. I
recommend everyone to read what Dr. Conrad Fischer has written in the initial few
pages of his book MTB.

Feel free to ask me anything you want to, I would be glad to help anyone in what
little way I can.

Thank you again for creating this wonderful platform! And God bless you all!

Good luck

7)How I passed Step 1 in 54 days, tips

Hello everyone,

Id like to share my experience of passing Step 1 in September 2011 at my first

attempt, after 54 days of revision. This may not be useful for many of you, as my
sole aim was to pass the exam as I have already secured a subspecialty clinical
fellowship in ophthalmology in the USA. I did not need a high score.

About me
You may have already read my thread in this forum about passing Step 2 CS after 17
days of revision (How I passed Step 2 CS in 17 days - lesson & tips). For those who
havent, I am a board certified ophthalmologist in the U.K. I went to medical school
in the UK, and graduated 11 years ago. I am of Asian origin and grew up in Asia. I
have not done any general medicine or surgery for 10 years - only ophthalmology. I
am taking the USMLEs for the reason I have highlighted in the first paragraph.

WHAT USMLE STEPS HAD I TAKEN BEFORE STEP 1?

I took Step 2 CS in June 2011 and passed. I am due to take Step 2 CK shortly.

HOW DID I PREPARE?

I was originally scheduled to take Step 1 just under six weeks following Step 2 CS.
This was a very short period of time for the number of subjects that needed to be
covered. I used the following RESOURCES:
1. First Aid for Step 1 (2011 edition)
2. USMLE World Qbank (2 months subscription)
3. NBME self-assessment number 5
As I was short for time, I was forced to limit the number of books I used to just 1. I
needed to be extremely focused and targeted with my revision. I agree with other
forum posts about using more books for a higher score and if you have more time.

THIS WAS MY ACTUAL PREPARATION TIMELINE:

1. Days 1-37:
As its been so many years since I did any general basic science work, I decided to
revise by organ systems as this generally makes more sense to me as a practising
clinician (even though Im an ophthalmologist and not an internist or general
surgeon).

Starting with the cardiovascular system in First Aid, Id read through a chapter once
(1/2 to 1 day), and then did the USMLE World Qbank questions on that system only.
It was difficult trying to understand a lot of the First Aid information, as it is heavily
summarized and assumes you already have an understanding of the topic from
reading of other/larger texts. I took in as much as I could, and the Qbank is
extremely helpful in filling in the missing links and with providing detailed
explanation (e.g. of biochem pathways, etc etc). I then moved on to the next
system. I would spend 3 to 5 days on each system in total. For each system, if there
was a Qbank question relating to a basic science topic not covered within the High
Yield Organ Systems topic, Id take that opportunity to assimilate the relevant
pages within the basic science High Yield General Principles in First Aid (e.g.
embryology, microbiology, etc).

With regards to the Qbank, I used tutor mode only. In total, I did 1750 out of the
available 2080-2100 USMLE World Qbank questions. I had the intention to go
through all the questions twice, but I didnt manage to even finish it once.

On average, I spent about 9 hours studying per day (more or less on some days as I
was also doing some unrelated lab research at the time)

2. Day 38:
This was 2 days before I was originally scheduled to take Step 1. I did not feel ready,
particularly as I still hadnt revised and done the Qbanks for neurology, reproductive
medicine, hematology, psychiatry and dermatology. To be certain, I took the NBME
Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment Form number 5. I got a score of 270,
which is equivalent to a USMLE Step 1 score of 168, i.e. a fail! I decided to postpone
Step 1 by 2 weeks.

3. Days 39-47:
I revised the rest of the topics I hadnt covered as listed above.

4. Days 48-53:
I read through most of First Aid for the second time most the Organ Systems
chapters, and some of the High Yield General Principles (basic science) chapters.

I would recommend giving yourself at least 2 days more than I had done (I ran out
of time) to read through First Aid again I had to skim through some sections
quicker and less thorough than I wouldve liked (e.g microbiology), and did not read
some chapters again at all (e.g. embryology, psychiatry)

5. Day 54:
I read through Rapid Review and High Yield Images (in First Aid). This was very
useful. This was my first time reading the Rapid Review section, and I wish I had
done it once previously.

6. Breaks:
I took 3 full days off completely in those 54 days days 6, 12 and 32.

EXAM DAY EXPERIENCE:

I took Step 1 in August 2011.

This was undoubtedly the most unprepared I had ever been for an exam. I thought
the questions were as tough as, if not tougher than the USMLE World Qbank. I
managed to just about finish answering all questions in each of the 7 one hour
blocks. However, for 2 or 3 of the blocks, I did not have time to go over any of the
questions I had marked for my own review. Time was extremely tight, and I wish I
had practiced a few timed blocks in USMLE World the only one I had done was the
NBME self assessment (which I failed 2 weeks prior).

This was an absolutely brutal exam, largely because I shouldve been better
prepared. There were many questions with which I had absolutely no idea, and just
had to guess. After the exam, I was certain I had failed and thus began planning
towards to a re-sit.

To my delight and surprise, I passed Step 1 last week!

SUMMARY & CONCLUSION:

Step 1 is an extremely tough exam for those of us whove been out of medical school
for a few years. However, its not rocket science. It simply requires a dedicated
amount of time to acquire and retain the sheer volume of knowledge. The syllabus
for Step 1 is clear, and there are ample resources. You need to streamline your
resources based upon the score youre aiming for. If your aim is simply to pass, then
I am certain the limited resources and plan I used described above will suffice. If
however, your plan is to get a high score (as would be the case for most of you),
then you need to read around the subject more, add notes to First Aid and revise
through that, and do more questions.

I hope everyone whos about to embark upon Step 1 can glean something useful
from my experience. Specifically, regardless of what score you are aiming towards,
you can at least be confident of passing with less than 2 months of solid and very
focused studying. You can then extrapolate how much extra time youd need to get a
high score.

Good luck!
8)Dr. KnifeHappy Step 1 Experience:
205 & Proud!!!
ABOUT ME:
I am an IMG (U.S citizen)I am one of the happiest individuals right now. I worked
my butt of for this exam and with GOD, and GOD only I was able to clear this thing
first time. I am an average student with good work ethic. I was average in my med
school classes but had a drive to succeed. I know it is not the best score, but you
know when you have sweated and stressed and done everything possible about an
exam, you knew what it took to get it you will be proud of it regardless. Trust me
when I started I had dreams of 240 plus, but as my prep continued, I realized what a
beast of an exam Step 1 was, and it became a 230 goal, to a 220 goal to a I just
wanna pass lol.

My STATS:

USWA 1: 206 ( 5 months out)

USWA 2: 219 ( 3 weeks out)
NBME 6: 160( 6 months out)
NBME 7: 165( 5 months out)
NBME 11: 184( 2 months out)
NBME 13: 184( 4 weeks out)
USMLE RX sim 1: 190( 2 months out)
USMLE RX sim 2: 213 ( 6 weeks out)
USMLE RX sim 3: 217 ( 5 weeks out)
USMLE RX sim 4: 229 (2 weeks out)
Free 150q : 72 % (220) (3 days out)
REAL SCORE: 205

MY SOURCES:
Kaplan Step 1 Live prep
Kaplan books & Videos
USMLE step 1 secrets (50%)
FA 2012 (3x)
PATHOMA video (2x)
DIT 2013
Deja Review USMLE step 1
USMLE Success Academy: Dr. Paul
UWORLD (2x)
USMLE RX Qmax (1.5x)

MY PREPARATION:

When I started, I read a lot of posts and had my master plan to take the exam in 6
months, but the exam ended up taking me 11 months to complete. I started with
Kaplan live prep class, and at the time I thought the program was great, but after
taking my NBMEs upon completion and failed miserably, I knew I had a lot of work to
do. Kaplan is great but not for everyone, it is fast paced and massive amount of
information with not enough time to sink in. I highly recommend the Kaplan videos
though; it was 90 percent similar to the live prep program.

So after completion of that I read and watched the entire Kaplan book/videos, then I
moved on to FA & DIT for a month plus, then moved on to PATHOMA afterwards. The
transition was great because I was now able to focus more on higher yield info, but
just slight improvement in scores. I then started with UWORLD, upon completion I
took the assessment, and then again took NBME, no improvement. I was
heartbroken and disappointed. After doing all the things I was supposed to do still no
improvement. I contacted Dr. Paul USMLE Success Academy, and did the 4 weeks
program, upon completion my score increased tremendously but I was still not
passing. So I then started USMLE RX[ best decision I ever made]. USMLE RX allowed
me to really understand firstaid, the questions seem straightforward but I was able
to start mastering ways of picking out an answer in a vignette, and so I continued RX
and FA and UWORLD at the end of my prep.

EXAM DAY EXPERIENCE

I havent prayed so much about any exam in my life. MCAT experience is nothing
compared to step 1. Night before exam I knew I needed to get a lot of sleep, but I
had so much adrenaline and thoughts rushing through me that I couldnt sleep till
after 2 am. I went to bed at 10 and kept twisting and turning with my heart racing
for no reason. On exam day, I took a lot of granola bars, 4 red bulls, water and a
bowl of oranges for breaks. Dont carry a lot of stuff with you, the lockers arent that
big (size of a shoe box, but taller). Overall my exam was a mix of everything, I cant
really say I had lots of neuro or micro etc. But I know that FA did help me a lot, also
some neuro images. But what I noticed is that the questions were LONGGGG. Believe
me when I tell you, I had no time to go back to review my checked answers for ALL
7 blocks. Vignette is longer than uworld and rx and nbmes. So practice time
management very well. I was ending blocks with seconds left in my time. Just
ridiculous. So read fast, very fast, and be able to pick out key points from the exam.
I took almost all my breaks, especially after a hard block. Also they give you a
laminated marker board before start, make sure you save space and you can write
your formulas and note before you start, so that was helpful. I used it to jot down all
the biostats equation, some pharm equations and renal equations. I dont recall
seeing any questions from NBMEs, but I saw an exact question from the free 150q I
was shocked. But I probably got it wrong because it was a hard question. The 8
hours was long, tiring and I was ready for it to be over with. But I tell you, the relief
of being done was priceless. I felt I could breathe again.

I received my score January 15, 2014, Got an email that my score was available
through oasis, I tell you when I opened that pdf and saw pass, I was in tears, just
thanking God. I know I couldnt have done it on my own.

WORDS TO THE UNDERDOGS, THOSE WHO FAILED AND THOSE STRUGGLING

I am here for you, I have been in your shoes and I know what you feel. It is easy to
get discouraged when you come here and see 240 plus scores and think you are not
smart enough when you can barely pass your NBMES. And you see people with 230
depressed about their scores. But you have to keep your head up and not always let
what you see in these forums depress you. When I posted my score on the nbme
score correlation page on this site, I was a little embarrassed because my stats was
quite unique from others. I kept seeing 240 plus scores and here I was about to post
my 205. Also know that the NBMEs are a good prediction of your scores but it is not
everything. I got tired of NBMEs messing me up and depressing me. So I stopped
after my 184 and couldnt handle prolonging my exam anymore. Be honest with
yourself. Know your test taking abilities, know your knowledge and use it in your
favor. Dont be ignorant and think because you passed on your med school classes
Step 1 will be a breeze. It is not. REPETITION, REPETITION REPETITTION is key. FA
and uworld helped me a lot. But USMLE rx helped me tremendously. FA is more
concept driven, but you cant start understanding concepts if your knowledge level is
lacking, that is where USMLE rx comes in. It helps you cram FA.

IF I CAN PASS THIS EXAM, you can too. Do away with all distractions (friends,
facebook, stress etc)dedicate months and weeks to preparing, at least 10 hours
daily.with reading and qbanks. Memorizing your way through this exam would not
work. Stay diligent, do it over and over. I read FA 3x, wish I could have done it 10
times. On my 3rd time I began understanding it even more, and was able to recall
things better. And the most important, put your faith in God. You hear of stories of
people passing their NBMEs and still failing and I didnt even pass my last NBME and
passed this exam. So do away with fear. Fear will deter you from doing well on this
exam. Ask God to grant you wisdom and knowledge to tackle this exam. Pray and
have faith that you can pass/ get your target score. I struggled through different
sources before I could pass this exam. But I am glad I passed it first time. It is not
the greatest score. But I will take it and run with it, because now I have learned dos
and donts for my step 2 ck/cs. So pick yourself up. Dont take NO for an answer,
study study study, and you will do well.

Please feel free to ask me any questions or INBOX me. I hope my story can help
those struggling with this exam. God Bless. [Feels good to officially be moving on to
Step 2 CK and CS Forums]
__________________
~When FEAR knocks, let FAITH answer the door.~

9)Old' IMG (2006), working full/part time,

Score 243
Experience of an old IMG who was also working while preparing for the USMLE Step
1.

USMLE Step 1 - Score 243 ; Exam March 2013

Background
Graduated in 2006; Did clinical work till 2008; MPH in 2009 and working in Global
health since then. So no clinical work/exposure for almost 4 years. Working full time
currently. Total study time 7 months. Studied for 4 months while working full time.
Then took partial leave (working from home about 2 days a week) for 3 months to
focus on preparation. Luckily I requested for leave during Dec-Feb when the office
workload is low.

Target Score:
I was initially aiming for 240 but the initial NBME's that I took dampened my
expectations and I decided I would take the exam if my NBME score became 220+.
But by the end I was scoring higher in the UWorld assessments which made me
hopeful again. Then I decided on a target range (220-240). [dancing with joy with
anything above 240, but anything above 220 will still be a welcome relief. Less than
220 I'll just go hide somewhere]

Here are my scores:

- Dec 24 - NBME11 - 204
- Jan 24 - NBME 12 207 (no change in NBME score for one month! So changed
study strategy, read below)
- Feb 8 - UWorld Self Assessment Form 1 - 242
- Feb 22 Prometric Practice Test 93%
- Feb 24 Uworld Self Assessment Form 2 252
- Feb 24 NBME Form 7 231
- March 1st - exam date

Study Materials
- Kaplan Videos + Lecture Notes (once, very rapidly)
- Pathology videos from www.pathoma.com (I did not use Kaplan for Pathology)
- First Aid (main review book, did it thrice, almost knew it cover to cover by the end)
- Uworld Qbank (did it twice)
- Kaplan Qbank (did half - about 1000 qs)
- Flash Cards Microbiology Illustrated Microbiology Memory Cards:
MicroMnemonics (helped me memorize things I found difficult in a very fun,
memorable way)

Study Schedule
Aug 1st Nov 30th 2012: Kaplan videos and books. One week per subject, some
subjects like Pathology took around 2 weeks. I was working full time (9 6 pm)
during this time. So I studied in the evenings (average 1.5 hrs/day) and entire
weekends.
Dec 1st Jan24th: Completed UWorld Qbank (scoring 60% average on random
blocks) + FA in bits and pieces
Jan 24th Feb 8th: Did FA chapter wise + subject wise questions from Kaplan
Qbank. (scoring 70% on subject wise blocks) (Did not complete Kaplan qbank, did
only about 1000 qs)
Feb 8th Feb 21st First Revision of FA chapter wise and repeated all of Uworld
subject wise in timed tutor mode. (scored around 80% this time).
Feb 24th Feb 28th Completed intense subject wise second revision of all of
FA + did the leftover/incorrect/marked questions from UWorld.

Day before the exam - Feb 28th

Only studied Biochem from FA in the morning and reviewed 4 pages of written notes
from UWorld and did two remaining blocks of marked questions from UWorld. Was
very relaxed while studying (not intense), and also stopped studying around 4 pm.
Went out to lunch. In the evening I prepared food and laid out clothes and packed
bag for the next day. Did the exam tutorial from the USMLE site. Meditated and went
through exam day in my head (explained later). Watched Greys Anatomy, had a
heavy dinner (helps to make you sleepy) and slept on time (10:30 pm).
Exam Day March 1st
Woke up at 6 am. Reached exam centre by 7:30 am. Started exam at 8 am. Exam
centre was only a 5 minute drive from my place and I had requested a friend to drop
me there. Had a good breakfast with eggs and toast and coffee. Felt reasonably
relaxed. On arrival. I put my cards/money/keys/phone in the locker. Rest of my bag
I left on the floor, next to the locker so it would save me time in accessing my
things. Put my coffee mug and water bottle on top of the lockers for quick access.
You may have to check whether the staff at your exam centre are ok with you
leaving your things outside the locker. Went to the restroom before starting. In the
tutorial I went straight to the sound tab and ensured my headphones were on and
clicked end block. This got me an additional 14 minutes of break time. I am restless
so I took a break after every question block (some friends I know did 2-3 blocks at a
stretch, so its a personal choice no hard rules here). I had packed some lunch but in
the end I only ended up eating bananas.

Exam day - break schedule

Break 1 5 minutes, stretched, took a sip of water
Break 2 10 minutes Ate banana, had coffee, went to restroom and looked up
something in FA
Break 3 5 minutes, stretched, water/coffee
Break 4 15 minutes Ate banana, coffee, restroom, read some FA and even
switched on phone to google
Break 5 5 mins stretched, water/coffee and a piece of chocolate
Break 6 10 mins ate banana, looked up FA, restroom
Break 7 5 mins. Stretched.

Tips
1. Watch Kaplan videos at 1.5x or 2x speed. You will find this option in most video
players including windows media player and VLC player.
2. Do Uworld twice. You will be surprised to see how much you have forgotten just
doing it once.
3. Take UWorld for 6 months atleast because you will be redoing all the questions
and will need to reset your questions. There are strategies for redoing all the
questions on a shorter subscription without resetting but I think its best to pay a
little more and keep it simple.
4. FA is hard initially but it gets easier the more you do it. And it will really be
the best last week review book. Try to go through it thrice before the exam.
5. I found subject-wise review and timed tutor modeto be most helpful for
learning.
6. Do the prometric centre practice test if you are willing to pay for it. I found it
very helpful. It is only 3-4 blocks so does not simulate the length of the real exam
but familiarizes with the centre etc.
7. Do a full day simulation. I used NBME 7 + USWA 2 for this. Keep a sign in/sign
out sheet like in the real exam. And pack lunch/ coffee like you would for exam day.
This lets you know whether you can do blocks at a stretch and whether you need
breaks etc.
8. If you have a high target score then listen to Golijan. I did not listen to all of it but
did it in bits and pieces and there were atleast 3 questions on my exam that I was
able to answer because of Golijan. I would strongly recommend listening to all of
them. But I think they are most useful if done closer to the exam. Maybe one month
before the exam.
9. If possible fine 3-4 supportive people (friends/family) particularly those who
have taken the steps. It helped me to call them when I was feeling low and needed
motivation. Stay away from non-supportive people.
10. Try to enjoy learning. We are privileged to have access/opportunity to such
knowledge. Malala Yousufzais story motivated me. Also, not to sound clich but you
are learning to save lives, so respect that and be grateful.
11. You will need a lot of what you are studying for Step 2 CK also so dont throw
away your study materials once you are done with Step 1.
12. Make sure that you fix your sleep/wake habits. At the minimum you should
be sleeping by 11 pm and waking up by 7:30 am every day for 2 weeks prior to the
exam. If you can sleep/wake earlier (10 pm/6 am) even better. Use multiple alarms,
ask roommates/parents to help. Do whatever works. This is important.
13. Dont nap in the afternoon! I used to nap in the afternoon and was unable to fix
my sleeping habits. When I stopped napping I was able to fix my sleeping. I dont
usually drink coffee but it helped me to stop napping when I was initially fixing my
schedule.
14. Exercise for atleast 30 mins twice a week. Try free yoga videos online google
yogayak free videos, or get dumbbells and do some simple weight exercises at
home, or go out for a run. Go for walks to refresh yourself. Exercise for me is critical
to making me feel happy and motivated.
15. Make an After exam list whenever there is anything you think of doing, that
is distracting you. Put it on the after exam list and forget about it for now.
16. The day before the exam do some meditation. Find a soothing video on youtube
with a meditative, pleasant soundtrack and play it. As you are relaxing yourself,
imagine your exam day from opening your eyes, dressing up, leaving for exam
centre, feeling confident, imagine yourself taking each of your breaks, eating,
drinking water, going to the restroom and imagine the end of the exam. This is a
powerful exercise, one thing it does is it will remind you if you are forgetting
anything to take/plan, but most importantly you will feel much more confident during
exam day because in your mind you have already been through the whole day
before, it will not be new!

For old IMG s who are working full-time

1. You can do this no matter how old you are. I know of people who graduate 20
years ago and scored in the 250s on the Step 1. Although it may be more
challenging for those of you who have work and kids. But it can be done.
2. I would recommend taking atleast 2 months either completely off or atleast flex-
time/part time before the exam. Especially if your target score is about 230. (I had
three months of flextime/part-time)
3. You will need to go through the Kaplan videos/notes to refresh your memory.
But do this quickly and dont get boggled down and think you dont know enough.
Trust the process, you may not know everything perfectly in your first round but
repeated rounds of revision will get you there.
4. If possible find someone who gave the exam as an old IMG and keep
communicating with them for motivation/guidance. I was lucky to have a friend
who had been in a similar situation as me and given the exam one year before me.
He understood and was very supportive and encouraging. It is difficult to relate to
IMGs fresh out of medical school and studying for this full time, or AMGs who
usually give this during medical school and need only 6-8 weeks to prepare.
5. Strongly recommend doing Step 1 before CK. I am now studying for CK and it
feels so much easier because it feels like I already know half the stuff. You can give
CK first BUT in that case studying for CK will be a struggle and studying for Step 1
after that will be a struggle. If you do Step 1 first then although it will be a struggle,
studying for CK will be much smoother.
6. Motivation/momentum and perseverance are KEY. It will be a bit of a
struggle at times to push yourself through. Dont stop, stick to it and you will get
through.

Having said all this, there is a lot of advice out there, do what feels right to you, find
your own path. You can contact me if you have any questions. I do not promise
that I will be able to reply though.

I also hope to upload a more detailed study plan for the working old IMG. I call it
the onion method.

10)The USMLE Step 1 & me...I'm done!!!

First of all...Im an OLD IMG (I finished med school > 10 year ago)

I started studying last week of March 2011 (I took May off.bad idea) and I took
the exam today

Materials:
- Kaplan videos (all except for pathology and cardiovascular / respiratory physiology)
= I watched them twice
- Microbiology = I read CMMRS once
- Pathology = Goljan audio x 1 time + first 12 chapters of RR Pathology
- Physiology = Costanzo (loved it!)
- Pharmacology = couple of chapter from Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews

DIT: only the first & second day videos...that guy is so boring!
FA 2011just read Embryology, Neurology and Psychiatry twice
I finished UW (timed unused random) with 70%
Kaplan Step 1 Qbank (completed less than 40%) 76%

USWA 1 = 680/252
USWA 2 = 800/265
NBME 12 = 600/245
NBME 7 = 580/240
Kaplan Diagnostic Test = 84%
150 free questions = 94%

Test: the question stems were pretty long!more like kaplan Qbank.

Anatomy I had like 10 questions...KAPLAN videos is not enough!

Embryology FA is enough.
Neuroanatomy FA is enough.
Behavioral Science was so weird! I had like 7 questionsI think kaplan is really
good but not enough
Biostatistics I had like 15 questionI didn't use kaplan/FA for this, so I cant help
herea little bit of everything I guess
Immunology like 12 questionsKaplan OK
Biochemistry Kaplan and UW more than enough
Pathology ...don't read RRPathology!goljan audio + UW are enough.
Physiology a lot of up/down questionscheck kaplan Qbank!!!
Pharmacologyyou must listen to Lionel Raymond (kaplan videos)

A lot of CT-MRI, plus microbiology/hematology pictures(I used google images)

the bottom line isthe test is really doabledon't be afraid and good luck to all!.

Took Step 1 about a month and a half ago, got my score back about a month ago.
Followed this forum sometimes so figured I would contribute. These are basically my
posts from SDN, but figure I would post them on here as well for the people who
don't follow the SDN forum. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

Overal-not bad at all. Thought it was actually WAY easier than any of the NBME
exams as well as usmleworld. Maybe 2-3 questions each block I was unsure about-
the rest I felt were gimme's. Had plenty of time each block-usually finished with
about 5 minutes to spare. I'd say maybe 2 of the blocks I continued to check over
my answers until the last second. My advice: just know first aid. There were only 1-2
questions total that were on step that could be found in Goljan and not in first aid.
Just know first aid and DO QUESTION BANKS. I ended up doing usmleworld, all 7
NBME's, Kaplan, usmlerx, and robbins rapid review questions. Here are my stats:

NBME 1 7 weeks out: 260

NBME 2 6 weeks out 260
NBME 3 5 weeks out 260
NBME 4 1 month out 271
NBME 5 3 weeks out 260
NBME 6/7 same day 2 weeks out 264/266 2 weeks out
USMLE WORLD self assessments 2 weeks out 265

USMLEWORLD stats 100% completed random, timed 85%

Kaplan random timed (did this one first)-~78%
UsmleRx and robbins rapid review were around 83%

My goal for what I would be okay with is 250. But my hope is to get above a 260.

Again-focus on first aid. Goljan for me was incredibly low yield. You are better
knowing every single detail in first aid instead of learning things in Goljan. Do
questions banks!!! And having a year of clinical rotations helps too =)

Ok so here is my advice for step: My usmle score was 269/99. Main advice is DO
MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF QUESTIONS!! Not once did I read/study Goljan rapid
review, Goljan audio or BRS physiology. I spent the vast majority of my time doing
questions. I know its hard to tell on forums which people are just geniuses but let me tell
you I am NOT one of those people. In terms of intrinsic IQ/memorization skills I am very
average for a medical student. I have to study much harder to get the same grades as
those genius people in my med school class.'

Refer to my previous posts for what I was scoring on NBME's, uworld percentage etc.

More Hx-I have had about a year of clinical experience before taking the step.Yes it
helped a little bit. When I first started clinics I studied my ass off
but still performed very average on shelf exams (70s range). But my last clinic
(medicine) I switched to a new system where I only did questions to study and I did NO
reading whatsoever-only questions. My shelf score for medicine=99. So, I continued this
method for step and as you can see it paid off immensely.

No only do questions, but whenever you miss a question or learn something from a
question write it down on a separate sheet of paper. This is SO important and valuable
and high yield-because later on you can read over these notes (write maybe a sentence
max for each question short notes-they add up quickly) and remember what you learned
from a question a month or two ago.

Now yes you should still go through first aid because this is the most high yield of any
source. But go through it fast-limit yourself to ONE WEEK going through first aid. No
you are not going to learn even 50% of it in that week but you will learn a little bit and
reinforce and learn more by doing questions. I used goljan/brs only to look up things I
was unsure about from questions I did-I repeat-use these only as a reference! Question
banks (except for uworld) are notorious for having errors so if you arent sure about
something yes look it up in goljan/first aid/brs or Wikipedia (my personal favorite).
After the first week of going through first aid my advice is the following: do 200
questions a day. This is very doable and you will still have time to write
short notes for the questions you do. I would do the following question banks in this
order

1st: UsmleRx-an easier question bank, has some errors but relatively fewish compared to
other qbanks. In the explanation for the question it has the first aid page image to view.
Good for learning more from first aid

2nd: Kaplan. Also fewish errors compared to other banks. Questions more picky but
overall a good qbank.

3rd: robbins rapid review qbank. Would recommend purchasing online subscription so
you can go back and do the questions you missed. DONT purchase subscription to
usmleconsult. This qbank is SO INCREDIBLY ERROR FILLED. I started doing this
qbank and got frustrated after 1 day because of the incorrect questions and massive
amounts of errors. I dont care that goljan approved it, he has obviously never done a
single question from this bank. It is a horrible question bank I repeat dont waste your
money. If anything your score will decrease by doing these questions because the answers
are incorrect and the explanations are WRONG.

4th: Uworld. Do this one last so it is fresh. MARK the questions you got right but only
because you guessed or werent really sure about the answer. Go back and do these in
addition to the ones you missed.

While doing qbanks do ALL of the nbmes, the free 150 as well as the two uworld
assessments. In the beginning I did these tests every two weeks. Towards the end I did a
couple of week including two full length test simulations

Ok that is my advice. Not saying this will work for everyone, but for me as a student who
has a hard time memorizing information this is finally the system that worked for me. As
you can tell Im not one of those superstars that has always done amazing on shelf exams
etc that test knowledge. (if anyone wants to know my MCAT score was 34). After doing
average on shelf exams I took a risk and changed the way I study and it has paid off.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this method-but I think many people
would benefit from studying this way.

Seriously almost every question I had on my actual exam I felt like I had encountered a
question testing similar concepts before. I had very few WTF questions but had I not
done so many questions I would have had many many more WTF questions. A theme I
saw on usmle forums is people who
were scoring around 270ish all did at least 3 or 4 question banks-not just
uworld.

Good luck to everyone!

11)273/99 Experience

Hey all,
I've never posted here before, but have done lots of lurking and learned a lot from
reading all of your experiences. Thought I'd pay it forward by posting my own:

273/99

Test date: June 15

The summer after 1st year, I reviewed the material that had been covered that year
in First Aid. Just light reading, nothing at all serious. I didn't touch anything boards
related again until winter break of 2nd year, during which I read First Aid in its
entirety. When school resumed in January, I started listening to Goljan audio
lectures as I walked to and from school. I also subscribed to Kaplan Q Bank and
would try to do 2 random timed sections per day. At this point, there was still lots of
material that I hadn't covered in school yet (like all of Neuro, Repro, and Heme), but
I did random sets anyways. I finished Kaplan Q Bank in early April. As soon as I
finished, I did sets made of the questions that I had missed, until I made sure I
could answer every question in that Q bank correctly. I also did sets made up of
questions that I had gotten right, but wasn't sure about (I had been marking them
the whole time). So really, I ended up getting about 1.5x coverage on the Q Bank.
Then I moved onto USMLEWorld and did the same thing, again covering it about
1.5x. I did the NBMEs when I felt up to it, and did the USMLEWorld self assessments
after I had finished USMLEWorld Q Bank. Then I took the thing, that's about it. Ha.

Here's a summary of my numbers:

Kaplan Q Bank, 78% (This is the first pass, obviously it went up when I started
repeating questions.)
USMLEWorld Q Bank, 82% (Same thing as Kaplan Q Bank)
NBME 3 (7 weeks out), 261
NBME 5 (6 weeks out), 268
NBME 6 (5 weeks out). 261
USMLEWorld SA1 (4 weeks out), 265
USMLEWorld SA2 (3 weeks out), 265
NBME 7 (2 weeks out), 268
NBME 11/12 (back to back, 1 week out), 268/268

Really, there's tons of good advice on this website. I think the best piece of it I came
across though was do it your own way. You know how you learn, so don't get
unnerved because people who are different from you do things different from you.
The next best thing I learned here was do TONS of questions. If you want a great
score, I think it's vital that you do more than one Q Bank. Finally, as far as books go,
the ONLY one I used was First Aid. If you know every word in that book, then you're
good to go. Granted, First Aid is not the place to go learn things for the first time, so
if you need help understanding concepts then review in other sources that you like. I
like Goljan Audio. But once you get it, switch to First Aid and don't look back.

Remember that even though it's a painful phase in life, studying for this exam has
real value outside of getting a great score. This is a rare opportunity, to have
designated time to consolidate and integrate your medical knowledge. Best of luck to
everyone preparing!
12)Step 1 Experience 253

I wanted to share my experience much earlier but after step 1 I decided to go on a 2

month vacation.
I took 6 months to study for step 1. From June to Janurary.
Took the test on Janurary 21th 2013.

The resources I used:

High Yield Neuroanatomy- Which I read 3x. The book is amazing. Has everything
First Aid should have.
High Yield Behavioral- Just skimed through the book. Didn't really like it too much
High Yield Molecular biology. Skimmed through the high yield stuff. Helped a bit with
some of the lower yield items I kept forgetting. But not essential either.
BRS physiology- I loved this book. Helped build a strong fondation for everything.
Read it 4x
Pathoma. Watched the videos 3x. Read the book about 6x. I absolutely loved
pathoma. Its a must have.
BRS Pathology. I read it once. Nice book. But loved pathoma more because of how
condense pathoma is.
Goljan pathology book. Read through it once. I felt reading it once was enough. Its a
great resource even with 1 read. Never used the audio because I had pathoma.
Microcards + BRS Biochem Flashcards + Langes Pharm cards used these everyday in
the morning and night. Had them memorized. This was my only sources for these
topics and I didn't miss a single question.
Pathology Langes flash cards. I borrowed them from a friend. Used them for about 2
weeks and never touched them again.
Robbins flash cards. I used them quite a bit early in my studies in the first few
months but stopped using them.
DIT I went through it twice. Its great and it really focuses on the high yield topics.
Its really more of a last minute cram then to learn from.
And FIRST AID. The golden book. With studying this resource alone and having it
memorized someone could pass easily with 220. But adding the other resouces from
books and qbanks into it....PRICELESS. I read this book 6x.

Here are some of my NBME scores:

NBME 7 330/182
NBME 6 470/214
NBME 5 600/245
NBME 11 540/231
NBME 12 560/235
NBME 13 590/242
UWORLD ASSESSMENT 1 242
UWORLD ASSESSMENT 2 263
Kaplan Assessment test 1 74%
Kaplan Assessment test 2 79%

UWORLD 1st run- 69% 2nd run- 90% (Finished half)

Kaplan- 74%
USMLERX 88% (finished 75% of it)
First Aid Q&A 85%
NMS for step 1 65%

The orders of my qbanks were Uworld first, Kaplan, NMS, First Aid Q&A, Uworld 2nd
run with USMLErx switching off every other day.
Everything I got wrong or didn't understand I wrote in a notebook and read every
other day. By the end of studying all the qbanks I probably had written 18 notebooks
of notes.

Final week
I was doing USMLErx about 3 to 4 blocks a day. Reviewed just my incorrect. I was
only trying to build endurance for the test so I wouldn't tire. At this point I finally
stopped using my flash cards because 4 blocks a day was getting time consuming.

Day before.
Hung out with my best friend. We had a beer and just went to the park. It was a lot
of fun. Totally forgot I was taking the test till I came home to my parents where they
stressed me out. I was worried I wouldn't be able to sleep so I took a melatonin. It
worked perfect. I slept like a rock at midnight and woke up around 8am. My test was
at 10am.
Day of.
Just went through a few notes. Talked to my parents. Ate a small breakfast but
packed a lot of snacks. Went to star bucks before heading to prometrics and bought
a huge coffee. Every break I took I went to it and took the biggest gulps to make
sure I was still focused.

As for breaks.
Did 1st and 2nd block back to back. After 2nd block took a 10min break and then 3rd
block. Took a 10min break. Then did the 4th block. 20 min break. 5th block. 10 min
break. 6 block. 10 min break. Final block. I made sure I took a break even though I
didn't think I needed one. I wanted to make sure fatigue was not a factor into me
rushing my answers. I would finish most blocks with 15mins left. After reviewing the
blocks I usually still had about 7 mins left so I just sat there and waited for my
break.

The actual test

Was easier then any nbme I had taken.
The questions weren't very difficult. The ones that I did get stomped on (maybe 2
per block) I would just answer quickly and move on from it.
No specific topic jumps out as being a majority. I thought it was well distributed in
most subjects.

What I've learned from the experience

My strongest resource were questions. In the end, I may have done 12,000+
questions. I saw questions ask a certain topic in almost every angle. So if I was to
advise you all what I would say is a must. It would be questions, questions,
questions. And remember this test isn't impossible. Its just a question which you've
practiced over and over. Anyone can score well when they stick there mind to it.

Ask anything guys I'll try to keep answering as long as i can.

12)10 Points To Get You Ready!

Hi folks,

I wanted to write this before this rich and tough life experience fades away in my
memory, serving only me!

1) Do you really want to do this ? Now? Why?

If you answer I want to be a doctor oops !! wrong answer..you already are one!
Half the battle was over before you got selected for medical school right? So there
are some unique qualities about you that destined you to be a doctor.
The actual question is do you want to be a doctor in the USA why? Is it worth the
trouble for you and your family? At what cost will you be achieving your dream if you
started now?
Are you better off focusing on what you are doing right now for a living /studying
and will focus 100% on USMLE later when you are more settled maybe when your
spouse gets a job! Lots of sacrifices involved especially if you are in a family (so all
those under your parents wings dont even think of giving an excuse!) Were you a
good student, average, or a bad egg doesnt matter the question is, are you
willing to put in your best for this exam (for a bad egg it is a good time to get your
basics down another God given chance!. We are talking about lives at stake here
people... For oldies like me (1996 grad) it is a time to rejuvenate yourself with new
information that emerged while you had your babies, as your medical books got
laden with dust, built your family, had an alternate career etc etc.)
Bottom line if you decided YES you should feel like a superman or woman now. The
task ahead is hard, rough road where you are going to feel ups and down,
sometimes tears,sometimes anger , sometimes helplessness , sometimes feeling like
giving up , sometimes so close to being there but still not confident.during those
times come back to this question WHY?

2) Pack up your excuses even good ones!

Oh! I am prime example.single mom, full time job.no family in USA to help
even if I had a pulmonary embolism or major surgery ( which for new readers, I did
have during my prep for step1) I had a pity party for myself and gave all these
excuses whenever I would start and stop studying! The fact is when I stopped giving
excuses thats when I made slow and steady progress. Do know where that ends,
right? Remember the tortoise story?

3) Are you ready for the game?

If you take it as a burden.believe me, it is burden.. if you dont take it as a
burden ..it is still a burdenbut the good thing is it is lighter!
Put on a positive attitude an armor of faith in God and yourself take a deep
breath and big broad smile and tell yourself never once in this prep I am going to
let a single negative thought like I cant do it! Will I fail? Am I just stupid? What
happened to my neurons? Why cant I remember? (if cant remember challenge
yourself it is me or the cytokines? Is it me or the qiss, qiq of G protein signaling)
repeat it in the bus to work, in shower.whatever it takes- who knows your brain
better than you ?
Dont compare when you see other peoples preparation or read their journals take
the positives and imbibe in your strategy you will see yourself evolve during this
prepemotionally, physically, spiritually, intellectually all 4 components are so
important. This forum is great.use it to help others, help yourself, push yourself,
find partners, encourage them , teach them , discuss, argue but learn and imbibe as
you go- all 4 areas I mean. Have fun studying at your best

4) Whats on your buffet plate?

You can tell that one of my goals this year was to lose weight! When there is an
array of food in a buffet, you pick what you like on your plate. Same
here..hundreds of books and sources..but pick the ones that suit your style.
Dont pick more that they fall off the plate..just what you will enjoy reading and
what you would nourish your brain with. For me Kaplan and FA and UWorld was good
enough! Dessert was discussing with my study partner which has its unique
advantages sometimes we laughed, puffed and phewed or giggled when we we just
remembering only our ABCDs with mnemonics but all this will flash like a light
bulb in your exam! If you are good in a subject teach it to the other and benefit from
the others excellence in whatever subject they were good at. It is a two way
street.cherish and nourish it!

5) Cut out the fringes !

When you study no yapping on phone, no television, no favorite show, no movies, no
gymhold on.NO!! NO!! NO!!
If you talk for hours learn to keep it crispy and short! If you get a call from that
sexy voiced lady who loves to talk just let is go to your voice mail. Be
savvy.You have a goal here, buddy.protect your time. If watching a favorite
show increases your endorphins ( I dont want to go to other ways you can do this )
..enjoy the show, get pepped up and switch off the goddamn TV and get to your
books. DISCIPLINE key to your success. Exercise regularly everyday.increases
circulation to your brain and keeps you energized.bored with studying go out for
a walk but discipline yourself to hit your books as soon as you get back. 24/7 Your
goal in mind. Travel with Goljanhe comes to the gymn too if you ask him to!
Sometimes when I have a headache, or my eyes hurt..but mentally I still am fresh
to grasp info..I just lie down listening to him. Wealth of information in 1 hour
.personally he motivated me to be as good as him! ( I know some of you are
thinking - hey that's too much to dream of ! You are only limited by your thinking!
Amazing talent to teach without a book in hand .the nitty
gritty.stuff.."mechanisms guys mechanism" thats what I am getting at65 yrs
and he can do it, why cant we? Imagine what efforts would have gone into the
making of that man, GOLJAN ..I would kneel before his knowledge and passion to
teach, any day!

6) Find your McD spot?

Yeah thats where I found my place of zen..Mc Donald parking lot.to have an
uninterrupted 4 hours study after dropping my son at school, drove there for cup of
coffee and breakfast - 8.30 to 12.30 solid block of time. Yeah if I get bored.moved
to the parking lot near my gym if ever there was a low phase in that time or not in
mood went in for a swim and then shut myself in the car again! Sounds crazy but
it boosted my productivity each day. So find your spot!

7) Golden rule of 4
Divide your day into 4 hours zones. You could make it 3 if it suits you. If you are
working full time make 2 hrs.Whichever suits you !Review your productivity at the
end of that time period. If not so good....take a break.......rev up your engine for the
next slot! No slacking.........
Mix and match your quota for the day.For me a 1st 4 hr would be First Aid (my
brain's prime time!)..2nd 4 hr ..UW world Q and review and a third 4 hr of Kaplan
with my study partner (this was my down time if had to study on my own, the
productivity would be very low and my mind would have wandered ..neither are
possible if you have a live person on the other end on skype .if nothing at least
they would wake you up when you doze off! My reading would get slow and shwes
hm hm hm.would become sparse and sparse till we waived each other gnite!

8) Set your test day on stone

Very important dont postpone! I made this mistake not once but twice till I
forced myself to take it! As someone said on the forum you are never really ready for
this exam. It is the point where you feel this is as good as it gets and when you are
"at your best".
Never realized when I read in others forum but this prep is an upslope and then a
few days gap or hole in your studies you can feel it disintegrating. So the aim is to
keep it upslope..when you are at your summit JUST DO IT ! (I know I am yelling!
sorry )
Now dont take NBME two weeks before like I did, and realizing you are not ready
you have to postpone. Rather pre plan this what if I dont do NBME well ahead of
time and then set your date in stone. Give time for failure, recuperation everything
and then set your date after your first read.
9)Time table & Balance a/c
I am a queen of time tablesI have 100s of versions on my computer ..once
every year since 2001 (thats how long I wanted to do this thing..but I had my
PhD, and other good excuses you know!).none worked perfectly.No. 1 they
were very very stringent and to the date and time..dont ever make such time
tables unless you are those perfectly programmed people! Be kind to
yourself.expect unexpected things..and give yourself leeway..when you cant
do it put it in your balance a/c for the week.so you dont beat yourself up and go
dwindling down if you dont hit your target (not me, of course !)
Before I even started I printed the contents pages of Kaplan and but them subject
wise on a bulletin board. It gave me great pleasure to tick them off with a colorful
pen as I completed so even my 9 year old could see what I have completed or not
(one day I had this question from him can you clone me ? I was shocked - where
he got this idea, said No. How come you dont know - Youve already ticked Gene
mapping and cloning was the answer!
I would put the date on it during my first read, so I had a rough idea of when I did
what and would arrange my reads accordingly if I had to revise.
Another advantage is that you can mix and match..across subjects like fungus from
micro and anti fungals from pharm.
Use your family members to gauge your progress or tell your study partner.so they
can push you .My master was my hero..I stuck up my quota for the week near
the fridge and every time he went for a snack or sipping his drink , he would ask
.so how many pages have you finished in Kaplanor that Gol..whatever!
Sometimes I would regret having told him, but thats a another story.
I made him understand the importance of this exam to me the WHY ..so one day
when all down in my prep .told him I feel I should quit he reminded me of my
why so what happens to your dream of helping people?. Filled my eyes with
tears..but on another occasion I heard him also pray.when mom becomes a
doctor and helps all peopleJesus please please remind her to share her money
in the bank a/c with me!!! His dream is to have a Lamborghini, actually 4 and a big
house with a helipad with a chopper parked in the backyard..and a race track
around his house! I should have chosen another profession for this alone!

10) THE MOST IMPORTANT

Its time to play AT YOUR BEST not first day, 2nd day but everyday! Believe in
yourself! If you have come thus far .You can do it, my friend!
I should probably be studying for CK than writing this but even if one point from
here makes a difference to somebody now or several years later, it adds to the same
purpose in my life. One such powerful line for me from a blessed person in my
journal was It is only about 350 Questions. Whenever I was down I would
remember this because Step1 is not my life ..it is just a phase in life!!! Rightly
named, 1st step to your greater purpose in life!
I would love to hear from you if you are reading this last line! Two way street
remember.
13)Hi guys, I just got my score report (253/99) and thought I'd post a
thank you note for all the members and staff of this wonderful forum. Youve been
really great and have kept me going through hard times.

My prep stats:
Kaplan original 2011 I am a member of the Delhi center.
First AID
Levinsons microbiology * love this book I killed micro.
Katzungs Pharma review thanks @docsasmit for suggesting this.
Goljan did NOT read except for my weak areas from NBME- then also too much
time, I answered a full 3 questions which were only in Goljan ( ya I counted :P )
My score stats

UWorld 71 pct
NBME 3 236 (3m before)
NBME 6 242 (2m before)
NBME 7 244 (1m before)
Free 150 87% (great correlator actually, dont underestimate this )

I was too stressed on 18th night before exam : I POSTPONED it at 3 AM BEST

DECISION OF MY LIFE
I felt horrible afterward and felt I wasn't mentally tough enough to take this test.

I didnt TOUCH my books till the 23rd, the day before my rescheduled date. I revised
FA and the night before had a glass of French wine, an etizolam (partial agonist BZD
with short half life) , and talked to my first sweetheart .. either of em or the
combination did the trick and could sleep 6 hrs so thanks to them all

Finally, cheers and may you guys rock in what you do. May god bless u.

14)Old Graduate Mom Scored 252!

I am finally in the position to write about my experience and feeling so happy that
can write as an old graduate and a mom.
In short:

1. Study materials:

- HY gross anatomy
- HY neuroanatomy
- BRS behavioral + Kaplan lectures
- Kaplan biochemistry + Kaplan lectures
- BRS physiology + Kaplan lectures
- Goljan RR 3rd ed + Goljan audio
- Embryology - only FA
- Pharmacology - FA plus Kaplan lectures
- Microbiology - CMMRS
- Immunology - Levinson

Actually, I was following the Taus method and I think it's great.

2. Tests:

UW cumulative 78% first pass

NBME 15- 254 , 1.5 month before the exam
NBME 13- 254 , 1 week before
I think that my scores didn't improve because I had a minor medical procedure and
also came to the USA two weeks before the exam, and had to take care of my child,
so didn't have enough time for studying at the end.
The most important thing for me is starting doing questions as soon as possible. I
was doing UW 2007 offline mode, subject wise and Kaplan 2010, random, just to
revise. I was doing questions almost every evening, one block at least.

3. Exam

Pathology, pathology, pathology! But a lot of neurology slides, a lot of behavioral and
microbiology too. Almost everything except for embryology. I wish I could have
known that at the beginning
My advice, regarding the day of the exam is- first go through all the questions, and
then return to questions that you don't know and don't understand. Don't wast your
time thinking about some equations, statistical problems etc. Time flies on the exam.
Mark only what you really don't know.

And good luck to you all!

15)262- My Strategy
First of all this forum has been amazing and has helped me a lot and I met a lot of
nice folks here who were always ready to help.

Background: IMG, March 2013 grad

Prep time : 3 months
Hours/day: 10 hours average
Materials: KLN with vids, Goljan with audio, FA, UWORLD, Google images ,
Wikipedia
Choice of residency wanted : surgery and only surgery

I did not to anything extra than what ive mentioned. What I did differently was :
Repeated kln without videos 2months out, went through images of important topics
eg MS ... Images included MRI , ct xrays histology, EM of specific cells. Whatever I
thought was important I would go beyond kaplan and FA, but not too many topics...
I tried to understand everything and memorize very little. Somethings that you have
to memorize are mostly pharma and little physio.
Also be prepared to handle graphs beyond what you see in kln and Fa but be
prepared with the graphs in them as well....

My Uworld cumulative 1st time 75%

NBME 13 1 month out (without uworld) 242
UWSA 2 weeks out 263 , 265
NBME 15 1 week out 261

That's it guys ... Its that simple and trust me you dont need to be a genius to score
260 ... But you need to want it bad like i did and push yourself beyond what you
think you are capable of.
If you have questions do write them on the forums ill be happy to help and please
for the benefit of others try not to pm me just put it on this forum

Ps. I would wanna thank the moderators of this forum you guys do a wonderful job
and also my friends here vinaya jd dr.kg, vita86 kovach and wish them all the best
for their step 1

16)261 in Step 1 (first attempt),

my experience
Hi everybody! My name is Nicolas, I graduated last year in Argentina and spent it
studying for the step 1. I got my score a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share
the methods I used, basically because reading other's people advice and experiences
was tremendously helpful for my preparation and I would like to do the same for
others.
First of all, I think that it's important to know that we might be very different people
with different thoughts, styles, weaknesses, strengths, prejudices, academic
preparation, time available and even different IQs, but there are some general
concepts and "rules" that I consider that can be useful for everyone trying to get a
high score in step 1. These "keys" are widely spread through the internet in many
sites and forums, including this one, of course, but I will try to simplify and
summarize them here to make things easier for those aiming to this tough but
perfectly possible target.

Before telling which set of books and other materials I did use, I'd like to highlight
that our goal is not to use a lot of different materials or to end up reading some
books over and over some X number of times (eg: First Aid) but to get the highest
mark as possible in the real exam, and we can achieve that in more than one single
way. This is important to know to avoid getting frustrated halfway when we can't
watch all Kaplan videos, read First Aid 4 times or repeat the whole USMLE World
bank. I personally followed the ZumZum Method (the single best study plan that I
found most suited for me) and couldn't keep up with it, but it was the base from
which I ended up making my own plan, with some additional improvisation, for what
I will be always grateful with Dr. ZumZum.

Next, I will summarize in a list the best pieces of advice I found over the internet and
some others that I could come up with during the study process:

1) Where do we come from?

Firstly, it is a good idea to take an initial diagnostic test (it could be Kaplans
Diagnostic Test, which comes with the 12 months subscription, or USMLE Worlds
Self Assesment 1 and/or 2). If you can avoid getting frustrated by an almost certain
low score, it can give you really useful information about where you are starting to
study from and maybe which specific areas deserve the most of your attention. I
personally didnt do this, but I would definitely do it had I prepare this exam again.
This way you can more effectively evaluate your progress during the process and
predict more accurately when you are going to be ready to take the exam.

2) Where are we going?

This may be the most important step to make your study plan. You have to decide
which score you pretend to get, or at least the minimum score so all your effort
makes sense, and how much time you can and want to invest for that quest.
Knowing which specialty you are interested in can be helpful to determine how high
your step 1 score should be to avoid having trouble getting interviews. Although
some specialties dont put much weight in step 1 score (eg: psychiatry, the one Im
looking forward to ), a high step 1 passing score cant hurt anybody!

Dont underestimate the importance of clearly setting your target score and study
time, in the middle of the study jungle its pretty easy to get confused and lose
perspective. In my case I ended up taking the exam 2 months later than I had
planned, with its subsequent higher risk of burnout, because I didnt have all the
relevant information from the beginning. So, I think that the moral is that you better
have everything you can analized and decided from the beginning but dont
desperate if you already started studying and have to change something in the way.
Its true that its usually better to stick to whatever plan you initially made, but I
recommend to be flexible enough to make some changes in your strategy if you have
a strong insight about how it can improve your final outcome.

3) Make a list of things to remember in the

midway
This is a really tough road and its important to always keep in mind certain rules.
While you are still fresh its a good idea to make a list of things that you want to
remember when you might be tired and confused in the middle of the study
schedule. You can find lots of these key concepts at the beginning of many books
(Eg: First Aid, Kaplan QBank, etc.), but I will mention some that were really
important to me:

1. This is a perfectly possible project. It is also perfectly normal to feel exhausted

and pessimistic halfway, learn to question your own feelings and pessimistic
thoughts and think that what is happening to you also happened to many people who
finally got a high score. I cannot tell you how many times I felt that I was bound to
failure.

2. Remember that nothings more important than the final outcome, its perfectly
fine to do things differently to the advice you get (even this one) as long as you can
still get to your target that way. The most objective feedback you can get about it
are your USMLE World Qbank score and the NBME forms; getting a high score in
them is the best way to know that what you are doing is right.

3. Dont delay doing question banks, it is strongly emphasized everywhere that all
good study plans require making lots of questions in the random timed fashion. Start
doing this ASAP, if I had to take this exam again I would start doing UW much earlier
in the schedule than I did. I know many cases of people than despite having read
tons of books, delaying the practice with question banks was quite detrimental to
their performance. On the day of the exam you should not be worried at all about
the format or type of questions in the examination. Doing practice questions should
be an essential part of your whole study plan.

4. One of the most important things: ACTIVE LEARNING. Try to avoid passive
reading or semi-effective study, your time is really important and you should also
wisely spend it in having fun and healthy activities. Once you have decided to sit and
study, try to keep in mind that everything ends up with a set of multiple choice
questions, so try to conceptualize every possible piece of information that way.
Paraphrasing, making diagrams and doing many multiple choice questions are some
of the best ways towards active learning.

4) Choose materials
Fortunately, there are many excellent review books and other materials and you can
find out which are the most popular in the internet. Try to think wisely what type of
learner you are and which set of materials you can get the most from. Next theres a
list of what I decided to use and what I did finally use and in the order that I did it:
BOOKS

-First Aid 2013: I would read every section after finishing it in the other books and
did 1 reread just before the exam.

-Kaplan USMLE Step 1 Qbook: After each discipline I would do it's respective
questions from this book (didn't like it too much).

-Kaplan Lecture Notes 2010: I read Behavioral Sciences, Biochemistry, Histology

Section of the Anatomy book, Microbiology and Immunology and Pharmacology.

-Kaplan lecture videos 2010: Could only watch Behavioral Sciences, Biochemistry,
Histology and some spared Physiology videos when I needed it to better understand
a specific topic.

-High Yield collection (4 ed): I read the Gross Anatomy, Neuroanatomy and
Embryology books. I also bought the Molecular Biology one but didnt read it.

-BRS Physiology: I really liked this book.

-Rapid Review Pathology: A must for many people, I liked it.

-Netter Anatomy Atlas: Just to compliment my anatomy study alongside with my

personal skull

-USMLE Medical Ethics 3 ed (By Conrad Fischer): I read this book a couple of
weeks before the exam and loved it, but unfortunately I dont remember answering
any ethics question in the real exam using what I learnt from it.

-Bought Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple but couldn't read it.
Please before buying a book think carefully whether you are gonna read it, I felt
pretty stupid doing this (although I was forced to buy it with too much anticipation in
order to get someone bring them from USA). Having weaknesses with a certain
subject (as in my case with microbiology) doesn't necessarily mean that you must
read many books of that subject, you could spent more time studying it or do more
of its questions and that could be enough to compensate.

QUESTION BANKS

-Kaplan Qbank: I bought the 12 months subscription to use it between subjects,

just as the ZumZum Method recommends. In the end, I did 86% of the questions
with a 75% of correct answers.

-USMLE World QBank: The single best question bank, specially for the last weeks
of study. I used it as my main source of study for the last 2 months annotating
everything I wanted to learn in my First Aid. I did the 100% of the Qs getting a 79%
of overall correct Qs, and then redid the wrongly answered ones, having 2 weeks left
to review the First Aid and take some NBMEs.

-NBME: I did NBME Forms 15 and 7, getting a prediction of 250 and 252, 2 weeks
before the exam.***
-USMLE World Self Assessment (UWSA) 1 and 2: I took them 1 week before the
exam and got a prediction of 263 and 265+.

-USMLE Free 150 Questions: Did it 1 week ago and got 94%, which would mean a
prediction of 268 +/- 11.

*** I read that NBME Forms may underpredict conceptual learners as it is more
memoristic than the real exam, and that UWSA and USMLE Free 150 Qs usually
overpredict scores. Both things happened with me as I did around 10 points better
than NBME prediction and a some points lower than UWSA. Anyway, with some
margin of error they all showed to be acceptably accurate. In conclusion, make these
tests the final judge of how well prepared you are to take the test!

OTHER RESOURCES

-There are many, almost infinite, resources you can use to compliment your study
plan and you can find them all over the internet, the key is to detect which are best
suited for you and make your own best plan.

5) Once definitive, stick to your plan!

Even though theres always place for some modifications, its really important that
once you decided how much time and how you are going to study, you strongly stick
to that. Besides losing time, the greatest risk of getting lost in your own plan is that
things stop to make sense and you get in a downward spiral towards lowering your
expectations or even giving up. There are lots of places in the internet that can help
you to keep things in perspective and have a realistic outlook. Just try to stay away
from pessimistic or fanatic concepts and remember that your own path towards
success is as valuable as any other, no matter how many difficulties you may have.

Next days I will try to complete and add more things to this post, I hope that
someone find this useful and please comment and ask whatever you want to! Good
start for everyone in this new year and best of wishes in this exciting fight!

Nicolas

17)Bye Bye USMLE

Alright...
I am an img...i was preparing for usmle...gave my step 1 ..got a poor score of
205/85...
I have decided to quit my journey further...cause i see no point in going toward a
future..where uncertainity is at its peak...
My seniors didnt help me much either...they said u can try and give it a shot and see
if it works for u..make contacts...people at all forums , mostly one doesnt get replies
at all..but even if one does they say " ohh i know of this guy who got matched at a
score similar to yours in an university / or other programs" but seriously where are
these guys...i couldnt find a single guy with low scores who matched in IM...( and
please a green card really helps...for people like me...who have no green card there
are slim chances)

I know of guys who had low scores didnt got matched...did research...then even
didnt got matched...
Some of them took up FM...( they had applied for both)
Actually i have just heard about them...

The deal is ...no one can understand ...they always say yeah do try...its what u
always wanted...and these are the guys with 230s score always...
Is there really a point to spend soo many $$ and soo much of time...just to improve
ur cv...
Well some of u might disagree..but my aim was to get into a good residency...my
aim isnt just going to the usa..

Is there a single guy out there who is an img...with low score...with no green
card...with no contacts...just with electives... Maybe a research ...who got matched
at an IM program...???

As for me...these were just thoughts accumulated over time...sorry if i discourage

anyone...
I will settle for my home md now...maybe do mrcp later and apply in dubai /
singapore...or maybe enter usa via the direct fellowship route..if i get in radio /
anaesthesia...

All the best all....any replies..( i know hardly anyone replies on posts like these) but
still....WILL BE APPRECIATED

19)My 2 cents--250 and 644

I don't want to waste your time writing paragraphs of crap I did because I think it
comes down to some simple concepts.

1) Work hard--my motivation was this is a once-in-a-lifetime test. Other students in

my class finished early and went to the beach but I can do that later! No
distractions!

2) It comes down to what you understand. A buddy of mine was top 10% in the class
(I am not), and he scored a 236 (which is good). Somehow he did better on tests
during med school than I, and he did for the most part understand what he learned.
But I feel like I really struggled with concepts more (I sat next to him every day),
and the stuff in FA then became basic, so I just used it as reference as I went
through Uworld, never sat down to read FA actually. Which beings me to

3) ...I did Uworld ~2 1/2 times. So what. I don't think that is necessarily the most
efficient and I think I may have wasted some time doing it. I did it 1. once, 2. all the
ones I did wrong, then 3. once again.
Then I did most of kaplan Qbank, tried to stick to "high-yield, hard" only--which
actually gave me some pearls.

4) I took a total of about 8 weeks just for these exams (studying for class IS board
study). Our school gave us the kaplan prep course, and I went to it. For me, I think
this was great to know how much focus I needed in certain areas, but overall
optional. Barone was clutch.

Good luck! I can elaborate more if you want.

18)
Hi guys,

First at all, I want to thanks God Which with my effort and support of my
family help me and carry me along this path. Do your best, and God will do
the rest!

I've been around a long time ago, i feel that i owe to this forum a lot, because it
Encourage me in every step along my path. I feel so Happy because beside the
successful of my USMLE step 1, I got more great news during the same week of my
report.

I'm an IMG from Caribbean, which start studying last year, but I stopped and start
all over again this year around march.

I did Kaplan Books all of them, last year, so this year I started with FA and Kaplan
Step 1 Qbank, them after finish kaplan Qbank, i jump into 1 NBME 5 to asses where i
was... Got 350 = 188 which is not the score i was looking Obviously is just a passing
rate, after that i went into Usmle World and Keep reading FA, and after finish it for
about 1 month and half i took another NBME scored 370 = 191. At least was
increase but not that great.

After doing this, i looked over my weakness area and review Kaplan Books of those
weakness, for example, Physiology, Behaivoral and Neuro. After that, i went again
into a New Qbank, which this time was USMLE RX... i did it for 2 month because this
Qbank has 3200 Question, it is a great Qbank for people who still dont know
particular points of FA or for people who are looking to grab the best of FA... i love
it... hence is not that accurate as the other Qbank, but the only thing it is Predictable
are NBME's... Nothing else... dont be fooled... Btw, i also think that Your "guts" can
tell you when you are ready but sometimes you can misinterpreted the sign.

After i finish it, i took others NBME to assess where i was and keep readiing FA all
the way...

Qbank Kaplan = 55 % = They predict 219

UW = 71% = They predict around 230+, this was bias bc last year i took UW, so it
was not that predicted, that's why i dont recomend people to do any qbank Twice if
you are looking to predict your score, if you are looking to see how much did ya
retain,, then yes.
USmleRX 67 % = they predict 219

NBME 5 = 350 ( 6 month before exam ) 190

NBME 6 = 360 ( 4 month before exam ) 192
NBME 12 = 390 ( 2 month before exam ) 198
NBME 11 = 420 ( 1 month before exam ) 205
FREE 150 2 weeks = 74% = 226

USMLE RX simulations i gave 3

First 4 Blocks = 219
Second 4 blocks= 223
Third ( 7 blocks ) = 245

Those scored cheer me up... But...

I noticed i was getting around 55-65 wrongs question on NBME's, so i tried to get
LESS and LESS as always looking over my weakness and After the first NBME i
started a notebook where i was writting down the things they were asking me over
and over again that really was smashing me down.

I did NBME 7 Offline, i got 45 wrongs, so i think that one i would get something
around 210 = 450 but still hard to tell, i didnt give it online because i was confident
ENOUGH to go for the exam, and if any NBME shows up with low score i will lose
that.
Well, after a lot of study and up and down, my NBME was not showing a great score,
but yet i was tired of studying so i decide to give the exam..

2 weeks after NBME 11 and Free 150 i didnt take anything else online and gave the
exam... so 2 weeks before...

Reading FA all over again and my notebook... it was epic, i read FA in 2 weeks 3
times... and my notebook WISELY ... dont waste your time with new material,, you
wont learn and you will not need it... at this point you know everything you know...
So you just need to consolidate those material...

3 Days, i decide to go for Highly Topics, So i study Pharm,

2 Day, List of forgetables which is here in the forum..
1 Day, Review my Notebook, nothing more... close the book by 1 pm, i ate
something and went out to the mall...Arrive home around 9 pm so i prepared my bag
pack and went to sleep...

DAY OF THE EXAM

It was so nice, the exam center was clean, people so nice, and they help me with
every question i got...

1 Block, The hardest, i dont know if this was because it was the first, i almost cry... I
pray God after this block, went into the bathroom and try to calm down myself and
give the best to the second...

2. Was easy easy,,, i got it so fast that almost start changing question, but i was so
confidence, that 12 minute left on this one... so review my doubts and jump into
another break...

3. Was Average, I got it good, after i finish i got 5 minute left, review my doubts and
ended on time...

BREAK eat something and drink some Redbull...

4. This was hard, but still i gave my best... and get out of there... to EAT

5. Easy easy easy.. as the second ... finish it... and jump right away to the sixth
block...

6 block was HARD, but i decide to jump into this block right away, because i got 15
minute left of my break ...

7. it was average, i found it pretty cool and almost finish it with 12 minute left again,
but i review it but didnt want to end it early because it was the LAST...
My experience on the blocks...

You will find some question HARD, you will not get any idea of what the heck they
are asking you,, Just breath.. and move on... and you will find this at least 2-4
question per block... so if you calculate it will be around 15 question in the whole
EXAM ( 7 blocks )...

So my advise, Take the break as you need it, but keep in mind as my center in
Miami, i took at least 4 minutes in going out and in during the breaks because you
gotta sign a paper whenever you go out and IN and they have to check you, the
pockets and everything...

Question: Some of those were experimental around 10-15 on my exam...

I got question of immuno, pretty straigh forward as we are use to... Some was a pte
with X pathology and they describe it pretty nice so you get to know what they are
asking... DONT doubt, dont Hesitate ... YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF.

*Micro: i got like 20-30 question

*Immuno 10-15
*Pharm shockely i was expecting around 20-30 but i just got like 7 question... this is
my higher subject but they dont ask me that much...
*Neuro Around 5 Question that i remember...
*Hemato They asked me everything, they took FA and ask me everything lol... it was
funny because some question were like "WTH" and others were too easy...and yet
got it with and * in the HIGHEST performance...
*Behaivoral = 15 - 20 question for formulas, dont know how the heck i get it, but
still i did like all the study , in total like 30 question...

Interesting they almost rape me with this subject... they ASKED ME

EVERYTHING ...all the freaking formulas, all the study, etc etc etc... so you better
understand Everything from FA... they will ask you,, IT was just me but it
happen

*biochem, like 15 question as some of my friend told me.. they will always ask you
the same and the same... so I try to GRAB everything above page 90 - 117 on FA ...
because Qbank Kaplan and UW and UsmleRX always ask you the same over those
pages...

* General Med / Integrations like 40 question

* CArdio / Renal / Endocrino / Pulmonology / They asked me a lot of Physiology

concept, it was easy but still you gotta understand the basic to answer it...
My notebook helped me a lot.. because i wrote down on my notebook stuff like
Glomerular Changes in Nephritic / Nephrotic. Pulmonology Curve, All Micro Graphic,
All Characteristic to dif Staph / Strep / / Neisseria / Salmonella / etc etc ...

Also, All the formulas, so i was reviewing it all over again... alsothe most common
change to the hepatic injury, neuro stuff, hemato stuff, i was writtingg down
everything most common asked on the Question Bank i took...

Finally,

My score is 211 = 88, it is not that 99, but i study hard to get above 210, i was
looking for at least 90, but IM SO happy for this score... now i have to start over to
the CK and try to get 230+ so i can get into the program i want...

Btw, people say that when you get out of the exam, you feel like you just failed or a
weird feeling that it cant be explained... YES is true... but during the days were
going by, i was like reviewing question on my mind and realize i got a lot of those
question right, so i was feeling more and more confidence, but yet hard to tell where
my score will be lay... so as a good believer, keep praying...

There are a lot of people from this forum that help me... and cheer me all the way
along the path that i want to thanks, i may forget somes, but yet i will name some...

BEBIX, Artoque, Guru, Heights, Sabio, Thank you guys...

THANKS GOD for this... finally step 1 is behind...

See you around in the path guys...

__________________
Nothing is Impossible, the Word Itself says "I'm Possible"
19)USMLE STEP 1 EXPERIENCE -
257
Year of Graduation : 2015

Study Duration : 3 Months during House job (March-May) + 6 months of

Dedicated Study (June-Nov)

Date of exam : Nov, 2016

Resources Used

1. Physio : Kaplan with Kaplan Videos + FA + uworld

2. Pharma : Kaplan with Kaplan Videos + FA + uworld

3. Biochem & Genetics : Kaplan with Kaplan Videos + FA + uworld (Revised

Genetics during last months of prep)

4. Pahtology :

Pathoma e pathoma Videos + FA + Uworld (Nothing else, Quickly reviewed pathoma

for

histo pics in last days)

5. Anatomy :

Gross : Kaplan esp CT scans of thorax and abdomen ( used it in last days as well) +

Muscles of upper and lower limb , origin insertions from KLM + FA + Uworld [will not

recommend HY anatomy, all necessary info is covered in uworld and FA]

Neuro : HY Neuro ( Must b done from kaplan, i personally believe that HY is LY for

Neuro :p

Embryo : HY embryo (Best book)

6. Micro : FA and uworld r MORE THAN ENOUGH

7. Immuno : Kaplan(recommended) + FA + Uworld

6. BS & Ethics : Kaplan Books with Kaplan Videos + FA + Uworld

100 cases of Conrad Fischer [N.B :DONT FOLLOW ANY OTHER BOOK FOR ETHICAL

PRINCIPLES, as there is a lot of stuff that creates confusion]

For Ethics : Uwrold and Conrad's 100 cases are the best sources

7. Biostats : Kaplan e videos + FA + uworld + uworld subject review

Qbanks : Uworld + Did kaplan Qbank for Genetics section.

Time Line

1st Phase

Kaplan, Pathoma, HY & all stuff other than uworld and FA (3 Months of housejob + 1
month)

Assembled the stuff, started with Kaplan books and videos, like most peolple didnt
realise that kaplan must b done

as fast as possible :P wasted a lot of tym , obviously it wasnt easy with housejob.
Pathoma is an excellent book to

cover patholgy, rest is covered in FA and uworld. Did Physio, pharma, biochem,
immuno, BS & biostats and Antomy

from kaplans.

Advice for starters :

Have a STUDY PARTNER. A DEDICATED ONE. 2 heads are better than one ;)

Try to complete Kaplans e videos asap. This part of prep is just for concept
building, dont cram anything,

just try to build a strong base. Repeat Kaplan only if you think you lack concepts
even after doing uworld.

AIM IS TO BUILD CORE CONCEPTS. AFTERALL WE R GOING TO BE THE BEST

DOCTORS.

Note:

DURING LAST MONTHS OF STUDY DONT WASTE TYM ON THE ABOVE MENTIONED
RESOURCES EXCEPT THESE

Pathoma histologies ,

Neuro cross sections ie Brainstem, brain.

Gross anatomy CT scans ie Abdomen , Thorax.

Muscles, origin insertions, nerve supply (only the ones that are mentioned in uworld)

2nd Phase
FA (1 month)

The First step towards the exam & very important one as well. Did it in a month.

Advice : Most of the people start uworld immediately after finishing kaplans, i ll
highly recommend to give FA a

read BEFORE starting e uworld qbank. It ll help u not only with uworld questions but
also with annotations as well.

UWORLD QBANK ( 2.5 Months )

The most imp part of this journey to succuss is UWORLD.

Target : 50-60 questions per day with explanations.

Advice :

Subscribe it for 6 months ( will keep u tension free :P )

It's a learning tool , so do it System wise in sequence of FA , it ll help e

annotations and save ur time. AIM

: CONCEPT BUILDING & PROPER UNDERSTANDING.

Regarding annotations : Try to annotate most of the uworld stuff on FA , so that u

ve all the important

info on a single book. Do keep a register for extra information. It was the first time
ever in my life i used

sticky notes :p

During First go MARK the wrong as well as imp questions & only use these
questions for the 2nd round.

DONT waste unnecessary tym by doing uworld twice.2nd tym Just do marked Qs .

3rd Phase

ANNOTATED FA (1 month):

This period is all about efficacy. Try to revise Annotated FA properly and effectively.
Forget about uworld during

this time. If u can manage tym, try to do marked uworld questions.

NBME , ANNOTATED FA e Marked Uworld (1.5 Month)

REVISON REVISION REVISION. Make your plan to take NBME after first revision of
annotated FA. (i took NBME 7,
11, 15 after first revision)

EXTRAS: UW biostats review. It is a good resource, mark the important questions for
revision in last days of exam.

100 cases of Conrad, i ll recommend to give this book a quick read in addition to the
questions if you score less

than 60% in uworld ethics. Neuro Brainstem sections, Gross anatomy CTs, Heart
sounds, Pathoma histo pics etc.

2nd revision of annotated FA must take not more than 15-20 days. took NBME 13

3rd revison 15 days. NBME 16

4th revison 15 days. NBME 18, 120 Usmle practice questions.

ADVICE :

Keep 1 NBME eg NBME 17 for last 4 days before exam date. Do a block daily in
night. It ll boost up your

confidence and will orient u towards the exam.

MARK the most difficult pages of the book. and try to revise them daily eg
immunodeficiency diseases

and drugs, Cancer Chemotherapy, Biostats formulas, Patho genes, Developmental

milestones, First few

pages of reproductive system etc.

UWORLD and NBMES :

Uworld First Go = 82 % [ REMEMBER !!! UWORLD NEVER PREDICTS YOUR SCORE,

The MAIN focus must be

on improving ur concetps rather than ur percentage. Every thing above 70% is good
enough for getting

250+ ]

NBME 7 : 185 / 200 offline (2months out)

NBME 11 : 191 / 200 offline (2months out)

NBME 13 : 184 / 200 offline (2months out)

NBME 15 : 189 / 200 offline (1month out)

NBME 16 : 258 online (20days out)

 NBME 18 : 256 online (10 days out) i ll recommend to take it at least 15 days
before exam.

Kept Free usmle questions and nbme 17 for 1 block daily in night a week before
exam, as i mentioned above. I ll

highly recommend this strategy. It really boosts ur confidence when u r down :P

Note :

A strong base, better concepts definitely improve your uworld & nbme scores.

Set ur target for 180+/200 in offline nbmes.

In most of the cases online NBMES are predictive of you real exam scores, so u
can rely that.

Of all the NBMES i took, 11 was the easiest one. and 18 was the toughest most.I
usually dont have time

management issue, but nbme 18 really tested my nerves.

DONT LOSE HOPE IF U SCORE LESS IN NBMES. Its all about struggle. I ve seen
many examples in which

people have challenged the predictability of NBMES.

EXAM

In my opinion THE REAL EXAM IS MUCH MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD THAN ANY

NBME (15 -18). After

taking the exam this is what i feel : 80% of the exam questions are easy. It's the
remaining 20% for which

we are actually struggling for :P

Anxiety was gone after first 2-3 questions. Took break after every Block. Came
back and started the next

block with the fresh mind. Thats the best strategy i ll advise, it ll keep u fresh till the
last block and will not

exhaust your mind. I think time for block is enough in exam, and uworld and NBMEs
prepare u well

regarding tym management.

Pathophysio was highly tested. MAKE STRONG CORE CONCEPTS. ITS ALL ABOUT
UNDERSTANDING IMP
CONCEPTS & definitely uworld was more than enough for that. U ll get a lot of
ARROWS up and down etc.

ALWAYS TRUST YOUR FIRST INSTINCT. Marked 7-8 Qs per block, left biostats
calculations & experimental

Qs for the end in each block.

Exam interface is similar to uworld, the questions are more like uworld in length
and style. The exam was

definitley easier than NBME 18. BUT still NBME 18 is the best predictor of ur score. U
can definitiley score

higher than 18.

U get 1-2 Calculations per block that are mostly doable.

1-2 experimental questions per block, dont worry much about them.

DONT forget to have a look at tutorial and lab values from usmle website a day
before exam.

Pharma was the easiest subject!! :p Biochem nothing out of FA and uworld!!
Biostats all from FA and

uworld. Micro FA uworld was more than enough!!

ECFMG REGISTRATION , TRIAD and EXAM DATE:

I will advise to get through the registration process as soon as possible during the
start of ur prep.

Take the Traid when u r done with FA first read.

Take the exam date once u ve taken online NBME and u get a score,that u r
aiming for.

FINAL WORDS:

Make a plan and stick to it.

If someone can do it , you can do it. its all about confidence and ur belief in urself.

DONT waste tym on low yield resources.

Do as much NBMES as you can. The more u practice the more u score.

Dont get frustrated if u arent able to cram FA. In the exam Concepts matter.

Set goals and keep em up with tym table. Dont take longer breaks during last
months of study.
 Keep atleast 1 hour of refreshment tym daily till exam date.

Everyone's experience is different, what worked for me may or may not help you,
so do follow your own

pattern of study. Dont overwhelm urself with unnecessary info.

Do FA uworld properly and u can easily cross 250 iA

Best of luck, Remember me in your prayers

MUHAMMMAD OMAR AKRAM

Services Institute of Medical Sciences,

LAHORE, Pakistan

20)USMLE Step 1 experience (detailed)

Artush Grigoryan Step 1 score- 269

Im from Armenia, Yerevan , 22 y.o. Studying in Yerevan State Medical University (7 th(thelast year)
year medical student)

Started my preparation in September 2015 (total 11 months) . Before that I red Biochemistry ,
Anatomy , and Immuno+Micro Kaplan LNs, without paying attention to details ,, (just red once) .

On Sep 1 started Biochemistry Kaplan classroom anywhere 2014 and LNs 11 days

Then 2 days for Biochemistry section from FA and DIT 2014

Then 3 days for Histology (Kaplan LNs) + 8days for Anatomy (Gross+Neuro) Kaplan classroom
anywhere + LNs + UW Biochemistry section (22 questions a day /total-11 days)

A day for watching Test taking strategies and Managing your USMLE study timeline videos from
Kaplan classroom anywhere 2014 (KCA-2014)

Then 3 days for Immunology (KCA-2014)+ LNs , + Anatomy UW (20 Qs/day)

A day for FA+DIT2014 Immunology (first videos(DIT) then FA)

Then 7 days for Microbiology (KCA-2014) +LNs + Anatomy UW (20Qs/day)

3 days for FA + DIT 2014 Microbiology (DIT->FA)

14 days for Behavioral science and Biostatistics (Beckers videos + KCA2014 videos 8 hour video
/day (total 7 days) + (Kaplan + Becker LNs +(UW Microbiology 50Qs/day(4day))(7 days total)

1 day for DIT2014+FA Behavioral science

10 days gap ( couldnt study)

11 days physiology (KCA2014+LNs) + UW Microbiology (25/day(5days)) + UW Behavioral

(24Q/day(6days)

10 days Pharmacology KCA2014+LNs + UW Physiology (17Qs/day)

2days DIT2014+FA Pharmacology

12 days Pathology (KCA2014+LNs) + UW Pharmacology (31Qs/day)

A day for Pathology FA + Foundations videos from DIT2014

NBME 7 offline 190/200=190X1.39=264

A month for Goljan Pathology 700pages without audios (You could do it faster) + Pathology UW-
(25Qs/day) (15 days total)

NBME 15 offline 185/200= 185X1.39=257

20 days for Pathoma video + book + Pathology UW(what remained ) + FA+DIT2016 Systems (all)

A month for UW2016 offline (2nd time after UW 2014),

A month for Kaplan Qbank online

NBME 16 offline (192/200=192x1.39=267)

20 days for FA+DIT2015 (all)

NBME 17 offline 196/200=196x1.39=272

A month for FA2016+ DIT2015 again

3 days for Bistatistics Subject review (online)UW ,, + 100 cases of ethics by Conrad Fischer )

NBME 18 online a week before exam (extended feedback 60 $) 273

There were some days I didnt do anything related to exam .

Exam was on 4th of August 2016 , score report day-24 th of August 2016 (Wednesday is a typical
day for score reporting after 8am Eastern time )
About Exam !!

The environment was excellent !!, Not noisy . 7 blocks (6 of which were 40 question blocks , the
last one had 28 Qs) Questions were similar to NBME 18 .

I found 265 Questions out of 268 somewhat familiar (from the sources I did) , and 3 Qs were
totally unfamiliar (1 I found in Goljan after Exam) 12chapter there is a sentence about TERT
mutation)

So it means that Exam is doable , no need to worry , just study hard , and you will find Exam
Questions familiar. And that familiarity will help you relax during and after the Exam while
waiting for Score report)

That 3weeks last like 3 years but finally I got my results and I cant describe my reaction !!!!! (just
remember the tremor ) hahaha , ,

So thats all ,,, I have Schedule organized by myself for Step 1 (an Excel document) , so thats
why I could write that much details .

And Thank you guys for All the Likes, Reactions , Comments, Letters for my post in USMLE
preparation Forum group.

Good Luck on your Exam!!!!