Hello, Step 1 Forum! Long Time Lurker on this group, but wanted to say thank you and how helpful this forum has been, in terms of prep and encouragement. Got my score report today and wanted to give back to this wonderful community.
Just want to start by saying- if I can do it, you DEFINITELY can do it! I’m a pretty average student and it’s mainly hard work and prayer that helped me achieve this score. It’s mainly about confidence and a strong belief in yourself that will get you where you need to be.
I started studying May 2019, right after graduating from a foreign medical college and moved back home to settle in for this beast. I was a middle-high scorer in my cohort, but definitely started with a really weak foundation in terms of studying for Step 1.
To begin with: I would advise calling/messaging everyone you know to get their perspective and compile all the information on a Word Document so you have an idea of what to do over the next few months. MAKE A PLAN OR YOU WILL NEVER TAKE THIS TEST. I know many people who keep prolonging this and delaying this test because of lack of planning and lack of confidence. DO NOT FALL PREY TO THIS.
Prep time: 1 year and 1 month-May 2019 to June 2020
(minus at least 2-4 months of crap studying due to fam stuff and Covid in March/April of this year)
Resources:
QBanks: Uworld (#1 resource, pretty much unanimous across the board)- 2 rounds;
Amboss: did a month of Amboss in May 2020 b/c my test date got delayed: It’s easier than Uworld, minus the weird 5 hammer q’s- I would suggest this if you have time and seeing more questions is the best prep but I wouldn’t say it was a HUGE game changer.
First Aid 2019 (get the most updated version!)
Boards and Beyond (BNB) videos
Pathoma (vids + textbook)
Sketchy (for Pharm mainly, less so for Micro)
Anatomy Shelf Notes
100 Ethic Cases of Conrad Fischer
Anki: Yousmle, Sketchy Micro/Pharm, lonotacop-Pathoma, Rapid Review deck in the last few weeks and some sporadic Zanki. As you can see, Anki was all over the place for me-more on that later.
Approach:
I started off watching the boards and beyond videos and reading along with First Aid 2019 from May-October. I listened to Dr. Goljan’s Pathology audios during my exercise breaks plus I watched Pathoma videos sporadically as well. I also did some UW questions daily, alongside the subject I was covering at the time. I think this could have been done in a shorter time frame, but had some fam stuff and just general laziness in terms of doing this everyday and getting sick of it lol
I did Biochem first but was then advised to do Systems and I am glad for it. It helped to keep my mind active and involved rather than staying with the general chapters like immunology and such. I did Sketchy micro/Pharm (including Autonomic Nervous System) alongside the systems, so covered that pretty much with the system review. And then went back to Immunology/General Pathology/Pharmacology.
ANKI: As mentioned above, Anki was an interesting resource for me. I made a whole bunch of cards as i went through my UWorld incorrects. But I honestly never went through the decks 100%. I got help with the settings of the extremely unfriendly ( 
) user interface of Anki in January of this year and that kind of helped but I never sat through a whole day of reviews or matured a full deck or anything. If anything, I used it more as a glossary to look up terms/certain topics which would take longer to look up on UWorld. That being said, I do think that everybody has to try it out and see what works for them!
In October, I took my first online NBME after covering the whole of First Aid with all the BNB videos in October. Ideally I should’ve taken them every 2 weeks after this first baseline but family stuff/fear held me back. I think you should take the test within 3 months of your first NBME, depending on your baseline.
After I started taking NBME’s, I would work on the weaker subjects as shown on the score report- mainly through continuing to go through UWorld and reading up on the subjects in First Aid.
Had my original Step 1 Date on April 6, 2020, I booked this in February but honestly I should’ve booked before. Prolonging this test will only hurt you, in terms of burnout. DO NOT RESCHEDULE UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO! - after 10 cancellations and about 1 1/2 months of not studying I got my June 10 date.
Leading up to the Actual Date:
I made a list of my consistently weak topics and would try to review at least a couple of those topics daily. This is better to be done near to the end of your prep so you don’t have a list that’s 3 miles long lmao
In the last few weeks, it was definitely more of a confidence battle as opposed to actual knowledge. I had been rescheduled so many times that I was mainly thinking “eff this, I just wanna take it”. That kind of helped because it kept me motivated to get this done with once and for all. Believe in your practice scores! The NBME’s for sure under predicted me as you can see below, so do not get disheartened. The UWSA’s were closer to my actual score, even though people say they are a bit inflated. But everyone’s prep is different so I can only speak for myself.
Doing Rapid Review at least 3 times in the last week is a must imo. I found an anki deck for it on Reddit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJgjMZk8_To&t=3s This video is a must watch for how to tackle the day before the exam/day of exam. I would advise watching it earlier and adhering to a similar diet/mindset.
Actual Test Day:
Completely blacked out, it’s all a huge blur.
I wrote self-motivating quotes/phrases on my formula sheet alongside the formulas, it was a huge confidence booster and I strongly suggest this.
The test was for sure Pathology heavy, lots of gimme q’s, some weird NBME style stuff. Biostats was my worst fear but not too many qs on that. I definitely benefited from the curve lol
Post Test:
DO NOT LOOK UP THE ANSWERS TO YOUR TEST QUESTIONS!
It will only kill your spirit and the buildup to the score report will be unbearable. Looking up answers will not improve your score, but it will destroy your mental well-being. I pretty much forgot what happened and tried to move on by hanging out with friends and family.
Trust in yourself! It sounds cheesy, but it really came down to trusting my prep and trusting myself to do well on the real thing. Knowledge was NOT the key at the end. I had to believe that I would have seen the test content over my months of prep, somewhere/somehow. You can do it! The other side feels like a different life; work hard and you’ll be done with this terrible journey too!
Here are my stats:
UW first pass: June 2019 to December 2019- 43%
UW second pass: January to Feb 2020- 73%
10/06/19 NBME 21: 180
11/03/19 NBME 13: 171-offline (I blame an off month of studying on this score lol)
12/22/19 NBME 12: 193-offline
01/26/20: NBME 22: 197
02/02/20- NBME 17: 207- offline
02/22/20- AMBOSS SA: 240
02/29/20- NBME 23: 213
03/09/20- UWSA 1: 237
03/16/20- NBME 20: 219
—2 months of Covid–
05/14/20- NBME 19: 225
05/21/20- NBME 24: 219
05/27/20- NBME 18: 226
06/02/20- Free 120 79%
06/03/20- UWSA 2: 241
REAL DEAL 06/10/20: 237
Took my test in Northern California, in case anyone was wondering about which center.
Baseline 180 ----> Final Score 237