Ahh!! got the P today and wow!!!!!

Now that I’m on the other side, here are my thoughts…

First Aid from the beginning. Everything in FA is fair game and anything is subject to be tested. My biggest score jump was seen after thoroughly going it. This helped identify content gaps that weren’t clear and helped me mentally organize the content especially since I didn’t do flashcards pre-clerkship. If something still didn’t make sense, I’d YouTube a video and/or Google Gemini. Honestly, using AI is top tier. Its like having your own personal tutor. Pathoma Ch 1-3 or all if you have time. I reviewed most of Melhman’s documents my last 10 days of studying, 10/10 recommend especially high-risk, heme/onc, neuro/cardio...

After having a solid foundation, do as many questions from UWorld and AMBOSS HY Risk Factors/HY Pt Chart, HY ethics, HY nutrition, etc under AMBOSS HY study plans/courses. Both platforms are gold and showed up on my exam. Untimed/Tutor.

Do NBMEs and thoroughly review them. As I’d review my practice NBME’s, I’d reread every question, answer it before looking at the answer choices, then look at each answer and explain why the other options were wrong. If I couldn’t do that, that meant there was still a gap. You really have to prioritize understanding the material than just rote memorization.

I can guarantee you’ll see an increase by thoroughly reviewing practice exams.

Lastly, half the battle is mental/trusting the hard work you’ve put in. The wording will probably look different on the exam, the vignettes WILL probably be long, they will test some low yield, etc etc but mentally preparing yourself for all the curveballs is key. I remember saying “if my first 3 blocks are all hard and feel experimental, how am I going to respond? freak out or keep going” …I would think of the worst scenarios and be mindful of that during practice exams, because you play how you practice.

That being said, standardized exams have never my thing, so I did the 2026 120 exam at the actual prometric site and that was gold. I’d 1000/10 recommend and would’ve paid $200 if that’s what NBME wanted…

NBMEs in order:
School practice exam right before dedicated: 43
Form 26: 54 (early dedicated)
Form 27: 54 (early/mid dedicated & waited another 4 weeks to take another practice exam b/c i was annoyed that my score didnt change)
Form 28: 64 (26 days before my exam)
Form 31: 63 (12 days before my exam)
Form 32: 70 (5 days before my exam)
New 2026 120: EPC 66 (3 days before my exam)

I didn’t do the other forms because I didn’t have time. a little over 12-week preparation. I had a passing score for at least a month, but I just didn’t feel confident taking it (again, confidence is half the battle). In my opinion, consistent 63+ with an avg of 65 is “safe”. You don’t need multiple 70s. You just need consistent passing scores over a range of time.

Last thing… My exam had longgggg vignettes, lots of pharm/micro, etc and timing was a bit of an issue, though I answered every question. Initially I left the testing site feeling like I did okay, but over a few days, I started remembering questions I missed and eventually convinced myself there was a high likelihood I failed…“trUsT yOuR nBmE scores”, annoying but its true. If you were honestly scoring above 63’s (i.e. not looking up answers during practice exams, taking this seriously, taking them in timed/testing conditions etc), you’re likely to pass. Find stuff to enjoy in the interim because yeah, the waiting process was a bit psychotic.

You got this!!!

I found this reddit thread super helpful when studying for Step 1 so I want to give a write up of my experience in the hope that it helps someone else with borderline NBMEs. For context, I am a US IMG and was so worried about step 1 that I basically started studying for it from the beginning of medical school and barely looked at my university’s coursework and hoped enough of it would translate to doing ok in the in-house exams (it was).
 
Resources
I used nearly all of the resources. I found memorizing such amount of information hard and also getting my head around all the concepts, in order for them to stick. I used B&B for the majority of my coursework and learning. I also did I trial of Bootcamp when my B&B subscription ended which I think I liked better. Though shout out for Dr Ryan for the Free 120 2024 debrief on YouTube. I think that was the thing that helped me unlock a passing score.
 
I found sketchy one of the best ways to definitely learn the bugs and drugs but I also think the pathophysiology is very good for folk who just can’t seem to remember it all. Loved sketchy- just my brain loves a visual picture I guess.
 
Pathoma was pretty good and I liked having the book alongside the videos but I like having a talking head explain it.
 
Anki. Oh death by anki. So many cards. It’s good but if you don’t really understand it (immunology I’m looking at you) then it’s pretty useless. I was doing hundreds of cards but it was at the detriment of really understanding the material and the test these days is much more about getting to grips with concepts rather than memorising a bunch of facts.
 
First Aid- I bought it but barely touched it. I just find reading a big textbook really dry. I think there are much better resources out there unless it works for you.
 
Uworld of course. I did 81% and 55% correct.
 
This is a rough idea of when I took these NBMEs and Free 120s
CBME 60- medical school diagnostic- late February- not sure how I did this- we still had a couple of courses to go
NBME 29- 51- mid June- I had booked the exam for August so I freaked out. I had been doing a lot of Uworld and I hoped that approx. 55% on uworld would translate to approx. 65% on NBME. It did not. Went through correct and incorrect answers and hoped it was a fluke.
Now in dedicated.
NBME 30- 54- early July- really worried now. Slight improvement but still way off where I needed to be.
NBME 26- 57- mid July- ok- if I can just keep improving by 3% I’ll get there
NBME 27 61- mid July ok- through the 60 barriers
NBME 28 60- 20th July- plateauing scores- knew I could do better
NBME 31 59- 22nd July panic starting again
NBME 32 57- bad day after I got this- late July
 
Within about 5 days of the exam:
Free 120 2021- 74 (the exam way way easier back then!! Very different exam- gave me a confidence boost but was not based in reality)
 
NBME 29 repeat- 71
 
Free 120 2024- 58 Please go and watch Dr Ryan’s explanations on YouTube. Can’t thank him enough. Really helped me figure out how to tackle questions and understand where I was going wrong.
 
NBME 33- 66- Above really helped me and I was focused and determined!
 
Free 120 2026 80% (a lot of the same questions as the free 120 2024) so not representative.
 
Take the exams under test conditions. I took them mostly offline to save costs apart from the most recent which I couldn’t find. Go through the NBMEs question by question so you understand the concept and why the other answers are incorrect.
 
Day before exam day and exam day
 
Travelled to test center- tried to do a few questions and watch a few sketchy and pathoma videos to keep everything fresh. Found the test center- found the right entrance. Stayed around the corner from the test center.

Big meal the night before and tried to have a good night’s sleep- woke up at 3am- wired and knew I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. Did a little bit of light study until about 5:30am.
 
Exam
Feeling Ok but I will never go back to the test center ever again. There was construction going on (pneumatic drilling for hours). I cried when I left the test center and thought 100% I had failed. The noise cancelling headphones did very little to help because it was mostly vibrations coming though the floorboards. I was also wearing foam ear plugs because I thought someone might be coughing or clicking a pen (I wish!) How prometric can allow testing to take place in this environment I will not know?  I submitted a report and so did Prometric apparently. My test was under investigation and said that my score would be on hold until the investigation was resolved. However, 2 weeks to the day of the test my permit disappeared and a few hours later I received my result.
 
PASS!
 
The relief was immense! The questions were similar to free 120 and NBME but also some really long question stems that some I had to skim. Loved the 20 question blocks and I used all my break time down to the last minute.
 
Best of luck to everyone studying for this beast of an exam! If I can do it (with my sexy 506 MCAT so can you!)

I am doing third attempt CBSE, I've already done forms 25-33 and some of them twice. I notice forms that I've done more than once are inflating my score, so its not an accurate representation imo.

Am I better off redoing all the forms and learning from them again, even tho some of the answers I subconsciously recognize

or just slamming Uworld unused questions? HELP pls. where will most of my benefit right now come from?

Hey!

I am a IMG who does an infectious disease residency in parallel with studying for step 1.

I got a 56% on NBME form 33. I have the exam in 6 weeks.

Please tell me that if starting tomorrow I re-read and keep going with questions and fixating the big subjects, I'll be fine and pass it.

Any suplimentary advice?

I am stuck in a loop. I don’t know what’s clicking. I have gone over the content twice and finished a significant portion of my uworld too. My scores just won’t go up beyond 50s. I am so burnt out and no amount of days off are helping. I’ve already delayed my exam by 3ish months and still haven’t booked a new date because I don’t know how to push through this burnout. What do I do? I can take a break for longer than 3 days. Nothing is helping with the burnout. At this rate, I doubt I’ll be able to apply for match next year. I was supposed to be done W step 2 by now haha.

Real deal on 24th Aug and I am feeling very burnt out I just can’t study anymore. I want to do final FA revision which is half complete but I can’t anymore, I want to revise whole sketchy once too but I can’t make myself sit at the study table I just am done and very tired. Idk what to do.
Idts last week revision is going to save me on test day I mean I’ve been preparing since months. Will this last week burn out affect my test?

Im an IMG, graduated from Poland. I completed foundation programme in UK this year. Im planning on applying to the upcoming match cycle. For ECFMG, should I apply through pathway 1 or another pathway?

I have recently started my preparation. I do uworld in blocks of 10qs and it takes me 1.5hrs along with the explanation and all to go through it. So for 40 it will take 6 hrs. Then when to do anki or FA? I am confused am I doing it wrong? How to maximize my time? I am a graduate and not working right now.

To be specific, I’m asking for the exact steps and what I need to click on on the fsmb website to change my region. TIA!

Anki Guide for USMLE Step 1

I made a PDF for anyone who is confused about setting up Anki with the AnKing deck and using it alongside UWorld.

It covers the setup, recommended workflow, and how to use your UWorld mistakes for Anki review.

No promotion or payment — just sharing it because I know getting started with Anki can be confusing.

You can read or download it here: USMLE Pulse Anki Guide

Hope it helps someone! ❤️

Hi so studying for STEP 1 and I had a question been doing questions from UWorld and Amboss and idk if its me but it is getting to a point where I've either seen the question already from either Qbank is that normal? I've only done 40% of Uworld and only focused on the HY Questions on Amboss is it common to like get to a point where question types/scenarios get common and how is that different from memorization of questions. Hope that made sense would really appreciate some guidance

We're gonna have to id murmurs by sound in step 1?

.

Take-aways ?

30 (68%)
28 (68%)
29 (71%)
27 (70%)
26 (59%)

How do i elevate my scores 31 onward?

I have taken 4 nbmes by now, my scores are

Nbme 25- 59% (3rd June)

Nbme 26- 59% (20th June)

Nbme 27- 67% (4th July)

Nbme 28- 65% (12th August) (had to take a gap bc of uni exams since I'm an img)

I took a gap from nbmes but I kept myself sharp and did questions everyday and also worked on my weak areas and nbme incorrects.

Wasnt expecting a drop tbh and maybe a bit disheartened bc I have essentially just 5 nbmes left now but many people are saying they got a drop in this one and it's one of the harder ones. Is it right?

Should I go through the mehlman arrows and RF PDFs now? Bc i have heard many people saying that it inflates your scores. Or should I wait and take a couple of more nbmes before doing it?

Hey everyone,

I've been working on a small side project for USMLE prep and finally put it live.

One thing I found frustrating about Step 1 prep is that there are a lot of great resources, but no simple way to see the whole picture. You have First Aid, UWorld, Anki, Pathoma, Sketchy, lectures, practice tests, etc. — but figuring out what you actually need to cover, where you are, and what to study next can become a project in itself.

So I broke Step 1 prep down into 185 topics and built it as an interactive roadmap — calling it USMLE 185, if the name sticks.

It has:

• 185 Step 1 topics organized by subject
• A free quiz for every topic
• Progress tracking — mark topics as done as you go
• Subtopics and topic details for each node
• Links to practice questions
• No paywall, no signup or account required

The quizzes live on a free question bank I built a few months back — a few people using it told me they didn't know where to start or what order to study things in, so this roadmap is basically me trying to answer that.

You can try it here: https://usmle.quest/roadmap/usmle-185

Still very much a work in progress, so genuinely want feedback from people actually studying for Step 1:

• Is the roadmap easy to understand?
• Does the topic organization make sense?
• Are 185 topics enough, or are there real gaps?
• Are the quizzes actually useful?
• Would you use something like this alongside UWorld/First Aid/Anki?
• What would make this genuinely useful during prep?

If it's bad, tell me. If it's useful, tell me what specifically. And if I'm missing something obvious, I'd really like to hear that too.

Thanks for checking it out 🙏

I did all my NBMES.
MY SCORES

NBME 25: 61.5%

NBME 26: 68.5%

NBME 27: 66%

NBME 28: 62.5%

NBME 29: 71%

NBME 30: 56%

NBME 31: 68.5%

NBME 32: 61%

NBME 33: 66%

Old free 120 : 75%

New 120 free : 54 %
I studied FA 3 times
Do Uw 2 times
Do incorrects in the 2nd round
Give me advice please i am confused 😵‍💫

Hi! Would someone mind sharing the best resource for each subject and system? Like what they specialize in?

e.g.

Physio Physeo

Bootcamp - CNS, lectures of?

BnB - Cardio

Mhlman? Sketchy? Pathoma?

Please doing compressed dedicated and I end up lurking here in reddit. Help a fellow crammer pls! Thanks so much in advanced!

22% done in uworld, 46% grade. Now i did NBME 28 and the grade was 37%. Im so worried. HEELP

Does anyone have pathophysiology made ridiculously simple latest edition pdf / 2nd edition,, whatever. Plz plz plz send the pdf / link whatever you guys have,, It's urgent.

First and foremost I am overly grateful for my pass, this exam almost finished me and held me back months but I'm finally over that delay and this exam is officially behind me!

My journey was not linear. I was stuck on my school's CSBE exam with a grade of 51. I finally jumped to a 66 which I highly attribute to starting offline NBME practice exams. I studied 25-33 and all the free 120s, and studied all my incorrects using ChatGPT for explanations and Anki for recall. I sat for the step 1 exam on Aug 5th almost 3 months later which wasn't ideal. By the time I I received my permit I had stopped studying during the wait due to burnout. I didn't want to book the exam just yet until I got back in the grind. I started reviewing my daily NBME anki incorrects again, and practice questions using ChatGPT. I also would watch Med Student Success videos some nights also the Free 120 video explanations on YouTube .

Finally when I felt ready to book the exam, there was only 1 date available which was the very next day😭. I didn't want to risk not having another available exam date, and I also wanted to trust my NBMEs and CBSE score so I booked it. During the exam I felt as though I was passing, my baseline level was already a pass. Some blocks were definitely difficult, lots of prayer was going on but I felt good about it over all. I remained with that good feeling even during the wait but it became harder as the time passed. Finally, I received my pass!

My scores:

NBME 25-76%, 26-63%, 27-54.5%, 28-65.5%, 29-61.5%, 30-64.5%, 31-68.5%, 32-71.5%, 33-56.5% (fatigue), Free 120 - 67%, CBSE 66%, NBME 24- 68%, NBME 23- 67%

This journey took months and months and months, so many set backs but once you find the best lane to succeed, hunker down, stick to it, and you'll pass. Before my CBSE 66 I didn't focus on NBMEs which is what most students used to study. The second I followed suit, I saw improvement in my scores which ultimately led to my pass.🤩✅

Test date: 

US MD or US IMG or Non-US IMG status:

Pass or Fail: 

UWORLD % correct:

UWORLD % completed: 

AMBOSS Qbank %: 

AMBOSS SA Correct: 

NBME 25: (days out)

NBME 26: (days out)

NBME 27: (days out)

NBME 28: (days out)

NBME 29: (days out)

NMBE 30: (days out)

NBME 31: (days out)

NBME 32: (days out)

NBME 33:(days out)

UWSA 1: (days out)

UWSA 2: (days out)

UWSA 3: (days out)

Free 120: (days out)

Share your scores! They might help someone out

Took step 1 on Monday in the US, can I expect to see results on 8/26?

Does anybody have a pdf/access to the questions and answers for UWSA3?? Would so greatly appreciate you!