I had posted my score on this page few days ago- Step1 -248. Although I expected my score to be above 250, I fell short of some points. My journey for this exam was around 8 months of dedicated I would say. I am a slow learner, so it takes a lot of time to understand some concepts and step 1 is all about concepts. I do not want to tell you what you should do and how should you prepare for step1. I believe that everyone who is preparing for Step 1 knows the resources and the techniques. What I want to tell you, are the mistakes I did (realizing right after coming out of prometric centre) so that you do not commit the same ones, and have less regrets than me. Everyone tells us what we should do to get a score in step1, no one tells us what NOT TO DO while preparing for Step 1. So here are my mistakes, hope they help someone somewhere. The resources I used were the common ones which most of you would be using- Kaplan/PAthoma/Uworld QBAnk/First Aid. Nothing special!
Assessment Scores: NBME 16- offline- 35 mistakes (1.5 months before exam)
NBME 17- offline- 21 mistakes ( T- 5 weeks)
NBME 20- offline- 31 mistakes
UWSA1- 254 online (T- 4 weeks)
NBME 23- 238 online
NBME 22- 244 online
NBME 21- 248 online
NBME 24- 242 online
NBME 18- 250 online
UWSA2- 252online
MY MISTAKES AND YOUR DON’TS:
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Choose the three months in which you want to give the exam wisely. DO not rush! It is not a race, take your own time, everyone is different, rushing will not get a good score. And if possible, prevent any major breaks during your dedicated period. It can break the flow of your studies.
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Newer NBMEs( especially 23 and 24) are the most absurd exams you will ever see, do not let the scores in these NBME demotivate you (trust me, they have the capability to demotivate you), use them to load your gun for the real exam, nothing more than that.
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Please expose yourself to new questions every day. I know we do Uworld twice, but you will agree that we sort of remember the concepts or in few questions the answers! And you are going to see new questions in the real exam (some questions which make you think did I even study this?) So, find some way where your grey cells are stimulated from time to time and you keep seeing NEW QUESTIONS EVERYDAY!! for example- give kaplan diagnostics, amboss or any new thing you can find! just grab and give it!
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Download an app on your phone to learn heart murmurs- I downloaded Littmann and they will help you. Your ears and your brain need to get used to hearing murmurs and recognizing them on the spot! Practice them, you will thank me later.
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Each day counts when you are in your dedicated period. If you waste a day, it is going to create a backlog and you can be under tremendous amount of pressure. And get in the habit of solving at least 2-3 blocks in the last 1.5-2 months of prep. Your body clock needs to adapt to this. Also, if possible 10- 15 days before the real exam- sit through 6-7 blocks of questions. It will be difficult in the beginning because our body resists change but slowly, we adapt.
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READ and READ and READ the last line of question with full concentration. That will tell you what they want you to answer! Use this while solving uworld, because there will be times when you think 2 options are right but go back to last line of the question- it will tell you which one to choose!
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TIME YOURSELF!! Each time and every time in every block of questions you do. If you don’t take control of your time, time will take control of you (AUTOPILOT MODE ON). And in exam this REALLY MATTERS! Even if you know everything and are a genius but cannot manage the time in exam, sorry bro! no one can save you!
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Read the entire question slowly in one go, so that you don’t have to re-read it again. Most of the questions in real exam are way too long to give them a second read. So give undivided attention and start practicing UWorld questions like this, trust me this is going to help you. Or lose your time and then learn! Your wish.
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If you can memorize the important lab values so that you don’t have to pull up lab values chart and go berserk searching them. It will save you some time there.
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Keep Re-Re-Re-reading First AID- latest edition, cannot stress this enough. Why latest edition? Because-likely what started coming in step 1 exam in the last year was included in the new First aid. Wink, Wink! (the last week before exam- ONLY AND ONLY FIRST AID)
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Silly mistakes are called silly because they are due to the lack of revision. Revision is the only thing which can stop or reduce our silly mistakes. And these kind of mistakes hurt the most(I know you know that) and make you lose max points. (take this from me, because I know I did some silly mistakes losing my score)
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Start NBMEs EARLY!! I did not start NBME early, one major mistake. There are major differences between UWORLD questions and NBME questions, you gotta practice both, so start loading your gun 2-3 months in advance.
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Choose your resource (Kaplan, BnB, DIT, etc) once and for all. Do not change the resources every 2-3 weeks, it’s the same concept written in different words everywhere. Choose the resource which is comfortable with you. The less crowd of resources- the better.
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If the first block in your real STEP1 exam does not go well- Please DO NOT PANIC like me!! Try to stay calm, you have other 6 blocks to prove yourself. (otherwise you will commit mistakes which you will regret). Also sleep as much as you can before the exam(it is difficult, but please try to). Otherwise you will be groggy midway like me.
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Have an inner circle of study partners/friends who are on the same boat as you, they will keep you motivated and restore your sanity from time to time. We are humans and we won’t have the same productive curve every day.