USMLE step 1 experience
Hey everyone,
This forum motivated me a lot during my preparation for this exam, I used it as a guide and a learning tool. So here I am today sharing my experience as a payback to this amazing forum!
Studying for this exam is indeed one of the hardest things you will ever do but having the right approach will help and save you a lot of time. Remember to always be excited and have the foresight of making yourself a better doctor.
Also, donโt forget to always maintain a healthy lifestyle, as your state of mind is influenced by your health.
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The order of assessments taken is as follows;
NBME 13: 248
CBSE: 252 (91%)
NBME 15: 250
NBME 16: 256
NBME 17: 261
NBME 19 + UWSA1 (back to back): 264 and 271 respectively.
UWSA2: 264
NBME 18: 261
Free 120: 89%
Usmle Rx: 84%
Beckers qbank: 81%
Kaplan qbank: I donโt exactly remember but in the '80s
Uworld qbank: 89% (Random, timed)
Old NBMEโs: I did all of them on timed mode, scores ranged from low 240โs to high 250โs
Actual score: ๐๐๐
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A) Subject-wise:
1-Pathology: Pathoma + Goljan rapid review and audio
2-Pharm: Beckers review + Sketchy pharm
3-Physiology: BRS physiology + Beckers review
4-Microbiology: Microbiology made simple + Sketchy micro
5-Behavioral science: Beckers review+ BRS questions+ 100 ethics cases +UW biostats review+ Randy Neil videos on YouTube.
6-Biochemistry: Beckers review
7-Anatomy: Beckers review+ BRS anatomy+ 100 concepts
8-Immunology: Beckers review and Abbas basic immunology
B) By resource:
1-First Aid: done 5-6 times, 5 stars, a must-do,
2-Goljan RR: done 2 times, very time consuming, do only if you have plenty of time or your path background is weak.
3-Pathoma: Must do, almost all you need to know about path.
4-Sketchy: I think this is a gift from God. The best resource out there.
5-Micro made simple: amazing, complement with sketchy for a stunning outcome
6-BRS physio: done 2 times, a must do for physio.
Qbanks: UW>>Rx>Kaplan>beckers
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I am a NON-US IMG from Sudan. Top 1% of class on a mid-tier Caribbean medical school.
My preparation for this test is divided into two phases: 1) Pre-dedicated 2) dedicated study period.
1- Pre-dedicated:
Our program is 4 years, two are basic sciences and 2 are clinical sciences.
MS1-2: after studying every organ system I use to do UW, Rx and sometimes Kaplan qbank and read the relevant section from the First Aid. I also used pathoma and sketchy at this stage.
After finishing MS2 our school enrolls us in beckers USMLE step1 live courses.
I watched almost all their videos except path and micro, for which I did Pathoma+Goljan and sketchy.
I also did Integrated cases with Dr. Raymon, shout out to this amazing professor he is literally one of the smartest people I met.
After finishing their lectures, I did their Qbank followed by Kaplan Qbank.
2- Dedicated study period:
Total time: 5 weeks.
Focused primarily on doing UW + FA
On the first week, I used to do 80 questions/day and reading FA thoroughly
2nd week to 4th week: 120 questions/day of UW + FA
5th week: I focused on my week areas and did the Basics section of FA again
Note: I also used B&B for my week topics and also referenced my review books.
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I slept well the day before my test. Woke up at 5 am to pray and meditate.
Packed all of my snacks and beverages the night before.
Arrived at the testing center early but I was allowed to start my test as soon as I arrived.
I had 280 questions on my test. Timing wasnโt a problem as I finished every block with 10-15 mins on average. I used the spare time to go over the marked question and to quickly make sure I didnโt do any stupid mistakes on the rest of the questions.
The exam is fair, with 80-90% covered in UW + FA. 5-10% was really out of nowhere, in this case, made my best guess and moved on without wasting so much time.
๐๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐:
1-In my humble opinion, studying for any exam should be divided into two stages: gathering the information phase and the phase of applying it and integrating it with other info. Linking to my experience I used Beckers and other review books as a way to gather everything I needed. And then followed that by using questions to apply and integrate (read next).
2-Questions are everything. I did more than 12,500 questions at least. The more questions u do the higher your score will be. Also make sure u expose yourself to multiple banks, to see how different test writers think.
3-Donโt compare yourself to others. Everyone has their own strengthens and weakness so what might apply for others may not hold true for you.
Find out your weaknesses as soon as possible and dedicate more time to them. You can do that by looking at the breakdown of your assessments.
4-Perseverance is key! You will have days in which you feel like you are not making any progress but donโt give up. Take a break whenever u feel this way, do something outside of medicine and get back to it fresh and ready to kill it.
5-Believe in yourself, donโt let anyone tell you that you cant.
Good luck on your test, I hope to see you on the other side soon 
I will be happy to answer any questions.
Yours sincerely,
Abbas.