Happy studying and good luck to the M2s who are pretty for Step 1/Level 1!
3 days in to study block and I’m already miserable…
Y’all are already studying? Nice. Our dedicated doesn’t start for 1.5 more months. I’m still trying to work through uWorld while balancing regular coursework, but not making as much progress as I’d like.
I held UW until dedicated but did Kaplan throughout school. Trying for 80-100/day and it’s pretty brutal trying to treat it as a learning tool along with first aid. We get just under 40 days for dedicated.
We took our last final last Tuesday.
We have about 8 weeks dedicated here, but I’m only planning on using 5. I agree that 80-100 UW a day would make a long day. I’m trying to get 20-40 a day here, so I can finish a first pass through UW prior to dedicated, but I don’t know that I’m going to make that goal.
I wanted to move my test up almost a week after finishing UWorld a little earlier than expected. The few days I had left were mostly only quasi productive and did very little to help with the actual test.
Test felt way harder than any of the NBMEs or Uworld practice tests. Lots of strangely worded answers and stuff that was either “low yield” or a one or more steps further than discussed in the “high yield” books. There was some stuff I had literally never seen, and some stuff that I blanked on because I haven’t seen the info since 30 seconds of some lecture in 2nd year… Soul = crushed. We’ll see how the results come back. I was killing the practice exams and felt like my score could range from failing miserably to maybe hitting my average scores. Apparently that’s the normal feeing of impending doom though…
Every test is different, so don’t feel discouraged from my lack of knowledge… a friend of mine said he felt he actually knew most everything and his worry was his score would come down to a steep scaling of who missed less of the easy stuff.
Hope your score comes back alright, Kennymac.
I’m in psuedo-dedicated right now. We have a class for the next 2 weeks (not graded, but supposed to help us with Step). Then full on dedicated will start. I’ve finished a first-pass of uWorld, and am working through my 2nd run. Trying to get 100 questions in each day, so that hopefully I’ll finish a complete 2nd pass and be able to redo the incorrects as well prior to test day.
I’m probably going to do an NBME practice test here soon to see where I stand.
One more week til my score…
I did NBME 16 a couple weeks into dedicated then 17 about 2 weeks prior to my test. Scored the same, well above my target score, so I quit taking them. Actual test for me was pretty different than the practices, which is why I’m sweating a bit… I have a couple of friends who said they had questions or pictures from some of the old tests, so it may be worth doing more than 2.
I got so wrapped up in everything I pretty much spaced that this forum existed, so now I’m playing catch up.
It’s kind of late but I’ll chip in because why not? I had ~8 weeks of dedicated and went through UWorld 1.25 times. Did 4 of the NBME practice exams and both of the UWSAs. My actual Step 1 was 10+ points lower than my last 2 practice exams taken 1 & 2 weeks before the real thing. I still did above average, but it still hurts a bit as I felt pretty good coming out of the exam.
I did very well on COMLEX, but that ends up being irrelevant as I’m only applying to ACGME residencies and they’re only going to look at my Step 1. Which I really don’t mind, the COMLEX is a terrible test, but it’s weird to have done really well on an exam that doesn’t matter heh.
How was the comlex compared to step 1? Are they really that different that it warrants 2 different test series aside from the OMT?
I’m very jealous that you walked out of step feeling pretty good! I ended up doing well on it, but in my mind I could have easily failed as miserable as I felt leaving the testing center.
COMLEX is a joke compared to the USMLE. The questions are generally quite a bit shorter, but they are also a lot more vague and as often as not you really don’t even know what they’re asking. It’s also longer and gives you less time per question (400 in 8 hours compared to Step 1’s 280 in 7 hours).
IMO, there is not a good reason for the COMLEX to exist. The USMLE is far superior, and not taking it generally just handicaps you as a DO student. There is already a dedicated OMT shelf exam to cover that material (which my school makes us take twice). Hopefully at some point DO schools will allow students to take USMLE in place of the comlex and it can just go and die. The only reason it still exists is because it’s a cash cow for the NBOME.
Hey check StudyPal, I found a study partner from it.
Hey, I’m looking for a dedicated studypartner for USMLE. I have put my profile and schedule on the studypal.All my friends use this to find out the studypartner for USMLE.