USMLE Step 1 Experience: 259, 93rd percentile. Hello everyone. I'm Ibrahim Migdady, a 5th year medical student at the Jordan University of Science and Technology. I'm here to share my experience with USMLE Step 1 exam. I will tell the details i remember the most. I'm sure i'll miss many things a lot of you might feel like asking about, feel free to do so. An important reminder: What I’m doing here is to share how I did things. This doesn’t make it essentially the right thing to do. But to hear things out of an experience is still better than hearing them from someone who heard from someone who heard….etc. Also, anywhere mentioned here: FA = First Aid (the book), UW (USMLE WORLD Question Bank)
The first time I considered/thought of doing Step 1 was March/April 2013. I didn't start studying with serious commitment until mid August. That's when it all started.
Study Materials: Before i started with First Aid, I did BRS Physiology and BRS Pathology, these two took one month and a half, which were a complete waste of time (literally). I did them in July and first half of August. If you are studying for step 1, and you progressed through it, you will know eventually that wasting a month and a half on anything other than First Aid and questions. Which is why I considered Mid August the beginning of my real preparation. (Especially that before that I wasn't really "committed" to studying") I did FA one time, in a very non-organized manner (I did a part of it subject-wise first (Pathology, Pharma, Physio....etc), then did the other part system-wise). I was done with this read by the beginning of October. From that time on (from beginning of October 2013 till my test day – 17th of march 2014), the bulk of my studying time was focused on questions, FA, questions, FA, questions, FA...etc. No, I didn't do Kaplans, I didn't do Pathoma, I didn't do any extra reading material other than questions and FA. Again, I'm not telling you here what SHOULD be done, I'm telling you how I did it, how I see the right thing, and you are the one with the competence to choose. The second time of my FA read was along with USMLEWORLD question bank. I subscribed to UW for 6 months (from 9th of October till 9th of April, being accidently the date of my results). I did UW subjectwise; meaning i used to study the chapter from FA, go solve all the questions in UW. And believe it or not, UW questions used to take much more time than FA. I will be talking about the proper use of question banks below. UW with FA took 2 months. Then I subscribed to Kaplan QB for one month. I solved most of the QB (95% of the questions), and meanwhile I revised FA one more time, cover to cover (not subject-wise with the questions). Once i was done with Kaplan I also subscribed to USMLE
Consult Qbank (the least efficient of the three), I solved exactly half of it in 12 days, along with doing FA also one more time. (Still counting? that's 4 FA reads so far). By the time I finished all that, i had less than a month left for my exam. I spent the last month doing some UW questions again, doing NBMEs, revising FA, and focusing on my weak points (for example I solved "the 100 cases you're most likely to get in the exam" for medical ethics, done by Kaplan, and I did some questions offered by UW regarding epidemiology and biostatistics - These two didn't take a day together, but receiving my score report and seeing that I did good in these tells you how much it's worth it).
So as a summery:
FA 2013 6 times (3 of them in the last 45 days). UW Qbank (2206 questions. Overall correct first time was 82%, which climbed to 96% when i was revising the questions and answers during the last month. Because i subscribed for 6 months, i had a reset option where I could do the Qbank all over again, as new). Kaplan Qbank (about 3000 questions, that include two nice, difficult, simulation tests. Overall correct was 84%. The simulation test score estimated my score to be around 260) Consult Qbank (About 2700 questions. I solved half of them. There was also a simulation test, which was ridiculously difficult, but somehow irrelevant. It estimated my score around 250). “The 100 cases you are most likely to get on the exam” (for medical ethics, made by kaplan). This was a cool guide to medical ethics, it was eye-opening, and I felt it did help me UW biostatistics and Epidemiology review course (this was a cheap thing you subscribe from UWorld for 2 months. It was helpful)
So as you can see: FA + QUESTIONS
Question Banks: These make all the difference. Not how much you do, but how good you use them. I always suggest you start with UW ALONG with FA first or second read before progressing any further. Do the subject from FA, go solve all the questions (this might take days!), write extra things down on FA (This will be tiring, but totally rewarding when you come to revise everything from one source), and do not memorize the questions! Understand them, read every single answer, the right and the wrong ones. When i started
with UW, I used to spend one whole vacation day doing one block (46 Qs) or less. You'll acquire the skills of doing things faster, don't worry. That's why I highly suggest you start questions early. Because I had 6 months subscription, I used to write Question ID in front of its related subject on FA (Especially when i say a large table or when i'm too bored!), so I could go back to it anytime. Why don't I take screen shots? Because I once tried, and suddenly UW shut down and I received a couple of emails warning me that my subscription would be canceled if I attempted this 2 more times. Don't act smart. (You can do screen shots and use snipping tool for Kaplan and Consult Qbank, though). UW is the most important source of information after FA. Do not waste your time in doing FA many many times without doing questions. Because, my friend, that is indeed a waste of time. You won't be reciting FA in front of an examiner, you'll get MCQs, difficult ones. The earlier you realize that, the higher your score.
I was less serious in Kaplan, although i think It is still a great Qbank. Many people say UW is harder than Kaplan, but I felt Kaplan was harder. And no sir, Kaplan Qbank is NOT very detailed, very picky, or very hard. It's a reasonable Qbank that has a different style. Some questions are really hard. I used to write on FA the things from FA only when i know they are very important. But I used to use a snipping tool to take shots of questions and answers i think important. (Ended with around 1000 shots, I loved myself for doing that when i revised them again). For all of you who still think they should do Kaplan books, Kaplan videos, or kaplan detailed notes, don't you think Kaplan Qbank would be a better substitution? Instead of paying for all Kaplan books, subscribe to Kaplan Qbank and do their questions. One extra thing about Kaplan, in each question, there is a hyperlink to Kaplan MedEssentials (which is like a summery of kaplan materials), but this is better because you get the things related to the questions you're being asked about. At first I used to read these, but then towards the end of the Qbank I stopped, they were being repeated and I was getting more bored by the second.
The least efficient was USMLE Consult Qbank. It is not a bad qbank, it is just less user-friendly interface, tesing other things the above two were testing, and I was bored doing it. I used to do the same regarding using screen shots and saving them, but way less than Kaplan.
Now done with the question banks, I'll talk about my NBME scores:
NBME 7 (online) -> 250 (3 weeks out) NBME 12 (offline)-> 94% right (corresponding to ~260) - (2 weeks out) NBME 13 (offline) -> 95% correct (corresponding to ~263) - (12 days out)
NBME 15 (online) -> 261 (one week out. This was the real deal)
My USMLE Step 1 score: 259
During the exam: You can see how my real score was best estimated by NBME 15, which is the most recent, and the last one I did. Why did I get less in the real deal? I did feel the exam was a bit more difficult than NBME 15, plus I know I did pretty stupid mistakes during the exam. After some blocks I would go get a break and realize how I changed some answers into wrong ones (without which my score could easily be more than 260, even approaching 265, because those weren't few). I knew I had the potential to easily get >260, but after some point, the score you get isn't about the knowledge you have, it will be about your test-taking skills. That's why, the only thing I would regret is delaying the NBMEs until the last month. If I go back in time, I would definitely do NBME 7 at least a month and a half before. This way I would improve my test-taking skills. I advise everyone to do as many NBMEs as possible, and to focus on how they think about the confusing questions. I don’t regret any other things. I don’t wish I have done Pathoma, or Goljan, or Kaplans. I’m happy and satisfied.
I know reading about this in this simplified manner may not be very helpful. For any of you who has any questions, I’ll put my email below, I would love to help. Remember, this is not rocket science. Scoring high is not undoable. It might not be easily doable, but everything comes with price. And guess what? it does pay off.
Good luck, Ibrahim Email:
[email protected]
