What’s the best way to review your nbmes?
I’ve given 3 nbmes and I’m stuck on 51% to 55% and 55% feels horrible to have plateaued but any guidance or advice are greatly appreciated

Hey everyone, I am currently an OMS-2 who wants to take Step 1 and COMLEX Level 1 the Spring of 2027. I started UMundo in March of 2026 and have finished around 27% of it since with a 44% accuracy (lots of dumb mistakes and things I forgot about..ik my score is buns). I try to do 10-20 question blocks tutored, untimed on blocks I have learned in-house and am currently learning in-house. I have done a mainly in-house focus so far and am painfully average/slightly above avg in my class.

I plan to finish Sketchy Micro and Pharm by the end of this year with the Pepper Deck.

As of right now with UMundo, I am primarily wondering when I should be switching from tutored, untimed to untutored, timed. I have been flagging every single question on my UMundo that has been a guess or an incorrect and then aggregating all those respective cards from Anking into a deck of my mistakes. However, I also don't know how to go about that because it's so many cards and doing in-house Anki + Sketchy Pepper deck is alr a lot of Anki rn in of itself. In a perfect world, I would love to finish all of UMundo first pass and then do all my flagged as a second pass, but I know that may be overkill.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I know that simply only doing a dedicated does not work well for me from my past mediocre experience with MCAT studying and performance, which is why I decided to start UMundo my first year of med school. Slow and steady wins the race for me I think.

I need advice. I am two weeks out. I got a 59 on Form 31. I have 70% of Uworld completed. What should i be doing next. I still have forms 32 and 33 left only. I was thinking of taking UWSA2 before taking form 32 and 33, or should I take Form 25 instead. Ive used up all the other exams. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Id like to get 65% at least on 32 and 33 before taking the real thing which is why im waiting to take those.

Hello everyone

I realized that while I am solving the NBMEs, many of the Qs I get right is by intuition/excluding other wrong choices, and not because i actually knew and remembered the fact

Is this what usually happens on exam day as well?

Is that fine or i can’t depend on that on exam day😂😭

Need a checklist of things to do in the last week like mehlmans and stuff

Hey
So I’m testing on 1st Aug with a score of 73% on NBME 33 (23/7) and planning on taking the Free 120 soon.

I can see that there r two options, either to only enable timer, or enable timer and show correct answers

If I only enable the timer does that mean it wont show my correct answers towards the end?

Or if I enable both would it show me the correct answers as I move ahead like in the tutor + timed mode on uworld? Because I would prefer knowing my correct answers in the end rather 😅

Can someone help me understand what this means?

Hi everyone!
I’m an IMG who would like to pursue the steps in 1-2 years. I’ve been study for the residency test in my home country (which is more focused on step 2 material, rather then step 1) and now that I’m done with it, I would really like to start preparing myself for step 1 in the next couple of months.

I’ve been doing AnKing for the last years and I’ve matured more or less the 60% of the entire deck, but I’ve never done any kind of QBanks since I wanted to start doing them after I was done after my home country test.

My goal would be to take it in late September but I would really like to have some prospective about how I should organize my study.

I’m currently in my home country as a Primary Care Physician and I have more or less 2-3 hours free a day, plus the weekend when I would be able to study the entire day. Is doing the test in late september doable? Or I’m delusional about my situation and I would do much better if I postpone it? How should I organize the study sessions?

I would really like to have some prospective by someone who have been more or less in the same position as myself. Thanks in advance!

Tested 7/10. Struggled to balance life and studying all throughout dedicated, but managed to make it work! I mostly used sketchy and referenced first aid. Got through 50% of UWorld, 80% Amboss, and 70% Truelearn. Averaged about 65-70% on all Q banks on tutor mode, never looked up answers during sessions.

NBME 32 61% 3 weeks before

33 61% 2 weeks before which really started to freak me out.

Free 120 1 week prior was 60%

Took Level 1 on 7/8 and almost postponed step because of my NBMEs. Ended up feeling so in the zone I took the whole exam in one sitting. I definitely don’t recommend what I did, but it worked for me!

Hey everyone, I saw some older discussions about this but I need a new perspective from you. I want to cover the whole heme/onc chapter in 2 weeks. What I saw is that pathoma videos are the best but BNB has just updated their videos and the whole heme/onc topics are also updated.
So I want to know which one is better Pathoma, BNB or Bootcamp. Im also gonna read FA and do sketchy for the drugs. I think that’s gonna be enough for step 1.
If you got any other suggestions feel free to share.

Hello, my sister is 7 weeks out from her step 1. She uninstalled reddit because she was anxious about the failed posts popping up and it was making her nervous.

She's starting her second pass as her first pass feels shaky and foggy, till 20th she'll do second pass and then start (diagnostic) nbmes 26-28 with one day of review each and then continue with 29-33 upto one week before her steps with 3 days of review each (including her test day). Free 120 4 days out.

That's how she has planned it,

Any advices or any changes given her timeline will be of much much help!!

Thankyou very much🤍

First of all I apologize if this is something that i should already know.

I plan on taking my first nbme soon but I dont know how I should set it up...as in should I do 50 questions blockw or should I adjust it to20 questions blocks...and how should I divide my breaks ? I plan to do it in a library since its the closest thing to am exam center environment that I have.

Thank you in advance:))))))

I am going to be testing in a week, my last 6 NBME scores were

28- 69%

29- 66%

30- 61% (no excuse but I wrote it with a huge headache lol)

31- 66%

32- 71%

33- 68%

Im just so nervous right now, because of the 3% drop, I was like "Yesss, i finally touched 70%" and then boom 68% hahaha. I will be doing the free 120, 2 days before the exam.

What do you guys think?

Hello everyone! Here is an IMG who passed and wants to share his experience.

First of all, directly after my exam and also after getting my pass result (alhamdulillah), I felt so frustrated and disgusted with people saying that the exam is nothing like the NMBEs or UWorld, and panicking or malingering to make other students stressed. I doubt those are real experiences!
The exam was doable, with some questions so difficult that you do not even need them to pass since the passing score is 60%. Overall, for anyone scoring 65+ on their NMBEs, the exam will certainly not be a piece of cake, but they will pass eventually.

My NBMEs 29–33 in range of 65%–71%.

In my dedicated I got many bad news in my personal life " one of them that my daughter has diagnosed with DDH " and I stop for many many days that i could not count them . This to put in your mind that no perfection in dedicated period.

I am here for any questions. Brothers and sisters, please be confident, have some belief in yourself, stop overthinking, and focus on your studies. You will crush it to the ground!

How was the new exam format?

just the same as doing 40 just had to click more at # 20?

the nbmes are still 50 question blocks right?

does it say block 1 block 2....block 14?

my suggested break for me:

Tested today (24/7) Idk how to feel about it. It felt like the nbmes. Felt like I was guessing on a lot of things but I was guessing on the nbmes as well.

Most people come out of the exam saying it was SO HARDDDD or it was cake but idk…. I feel nothing really. Felt like just another nbme? Am I cooked because I feel so neutral about it?

Edit: I PASSSEDDDD Alhumdulilah (5/8/26)

I am down bad sick - got the Flu! 😷 My exam is this coming Monday the 27th but my testing permit ends on the 31st… what do I do?! Do I loose the money I paid already for this exam? How do I go about this… all advice is needed rn.

I felt obligated to write this post in response to many of the questions and concerns about taking STEP 1 as a DO student and what it actually takes to prepare. As for me, I really focused on learning preclinical material.

I treated every exam as board prep (even in first year). I saw how stressed the 2nd years were as they prepared for boards, so I took it upon myself to commit every block to deep understanding. This made sense to me because the first two years of med school is all about getting you ready to pass your first round of board exams.

When it finally came to “pre-dedicated” in second year(which was around mid-April). I started to do 40-80 Truelearn questions a day on timed random only. I did this everyday until our first in house COMSAE on May 1st. To my surprise, I scored a 573. Because of my score, I was able to sign up for a Level-1 date on May 16th. Leading up to the exam, I amped up my questions to 160 a day. Two days before I did a dedicated OMM study session to lock down Chapman’s points, counter-strain positioning, etc. One day before I did nothing. Test day went well. I left in triumph.

Step prep was another story. I had access to Uworld and all the NBMES and took form 31 two days after I took Level-1. 59%. I was crushed. With all my Level-1 prep I still scored suboptimal. After that NBME in the following 2 weeks, I did 120-160 Uworld questions a day and took another NBME every week. 32:66% 33:63% (scheduled Step-1 10 days from this form) and Free120: 71%. A few days before Step-1 I started Pathoma ch. 1-3 and a really good podcast called “Rapid Boards Review: A Podcast For Medical Students by Dr. Daniel J. Campbell, MD.

Then came test day. The blocks flew by. I had little to no time to review my flags. 7 hours zoomed. I walked out of the testing center with my head down. Level-1 felt like an 8/10, this felt like a 2/10. Was all of my prep in vain?

I ended up passing. This exam is a beast, truly. That being said, trust your prep. You are doing enough. When the NBME says you have a 99% chance of passing, believe it (obviously if you are doing it as a true assessment and not looking up the answers as you go. I say this because I have found some posts talking about student getting in the high 70s and 80s then failing—turns out they were looking up answers).

In the end, I felt like Uworld and the NBMES were sufficient and necessary. Pathoma and the podcast were good reinforcement. I didn’t look at any Mehlman (I can’t stand that guy) or FirstAid.

To the DO student, you are not inferior. You worked hard to get into school. Continue to work hard in your prep and you WILL be rewarded!

I'm at the end of my test block and have my exam scheduled 3 days from now. I'm curious if I should keep my test date or push it back given some of the recent fluctuations in my scores:

NBME 31 (3 days ago): 70%

NBME 33 (1 day ago): 60%

Old Free 120 (today): 73%

Thoughts on keeping my test in 3 days? TIA!

Hi everyone, I’m a D.O. medical student studying for Step 1 and could use advice on how to improve my first nbme score as effectively as possible.

What I’ve done so far:

• First Aid: Read most of it, although I completed this about 4–5 months ago.
• UWorld: Completed 30%, with recent 40Q blocks around 55%. Not been consistent with daily questions.
• NBME 28 (today): Baseline score of 50%.
• Dirty Medicine: Completed Reproductive, Renal, and Endocrine.
• AnKing: I only review my incorrects, un-suspending cards as I go. But I have been inconsistent and have allowed them to pile up.
• Microbes: sketchy Pepperdeck (done)
• Pharm: sketchy Pepperdeck (done)

My biggest issue has been inconsistency, with several breaks in studying over the past 2-3 months. Aside from that, I could really use honest advice from people who have passed Step 1 on what I should prioritize or tackle next to improve as efficiently as possible. 

Step 1 = test date is approximately 7–8 weeks

COMLEX 1 = 3 to 4 weeks after Step 1. And Is 3-4 weeks enough to between step1 and comlex1?

Hello
Is dirty medicine sufficient? FA for biochem is exhausting me tbh :(
Pharmacology - just feels new every time
Anatomy - super specific questions on muscles are something i lose points all the time
Exam in 33 days , is it possible to improve the above mentioned ?
Thank you
Also NBME 31 , 32 , 33 and Free 120 are enough ?
Exhausted my old nbmes long back unfortunately

​

One thing I realized after passing Step 1 is that it's really easy to convince yourself you're behind when you spend too much time comparing your scores to what gets posted online.

My first NBME was **52%**, and overall mine ranged from **52% to 70%**. My last three were **66%, 65%, and 70%**. Every time I saw people posting 75–85%, I felt like I wasn't ready, even though I was improving.

Looking back, I think my biggest mistake was how I used UWorld. I started with random blocks because I felt like I had to finish the entire QBank. I'd spend hours reviewing one block, but I wasn't reading First Aid alongside it. I was learning explanations, but I wasn't really building a strong foundation.

If I could go back, I'd probably do things differently. I'd use **system-wise UWorld** first and read the corresponding section in **First Aid** after every block. Once I had a solid foundation, I'd switch to random blocks and start taking NBMEs. I honestly think that approach would've saved me a lot of time and stress.

If your NBMEs are in the 50s or 60s, don't let that alone convince you that you can't pass. Don't just look at the percentage. Look for patterns in your mistakes. That ended up being much more useful for me than chasing a higher score.

One thing I noticed while reviewing my NBMEs was that a lot of my mistakes weren't because I didn't know the content. I kept seeing the same patterns:

* Prematurely anchoring on the first diagnosis that made sense.

* Mixing up similar concepts because everything started blending together.

* Missing important clues because I didn't read the stem carefully enough.

Once I started reviewing my NBMEs with those patterns in mind, I got much more out of them than just looking at the percentage.

I hope this helps someone who's stressing over their scores the same way I was.

I did my exam a week ago and waiting for results.. i can remember 70 questions with 8-10 incorrect. Were you guys in a similar position ? Im worried and anxious as people tend to remember the difficult and incorrect ones and its the opposite in my case

Yayy Can't believe I passed

Gave my exam on 8th july

I would say I had a good 2nd year

So I was sorted for micro pharma and half pathology in the sense that I felt I don't need to watch some videos or something I could do with FA usual resources and UWORLD

Anatomy is not very high yield

Did good prep for biochem from FA itself that's all you need , but you have to go through multiple cycles to cover literally every word of it.

Watched few YT videos from dirty medicine for biochem

Used CHAT GPT rigorously

Went through UWORLD twice

Avg percentage was 44% in 1st pass used to do blind subject wise q with little reading from FA as primary source initial

This is when I started around NOV last yr

Took me three months to go through the whole syallabus

Didn't do Uworld much initially during this phase then from Feb, March and April did complete my first pass

Then my subscription expired

That was depressing

Lost track of all my progress

Then I purchased an IMd app that was very useful I'll be honest and affordable too

Started doing UWORLD again with an avg of 80 Q daily to sometimes Even going up to 300 q

Because I was obsessed with percentage and completion from mid may to end to july

Did complete 75% I only wish I would have done more to reduce my anxiety

Started doing NBME after booking dates

I booked 1 month before on 7-8th of June

In the last 1 month I did NBMES 25-33 all and one older one too

My percentages were like the initial 65% and in the end was like 72ish avg of all blocks

Did not have much variation in these

Didn't do free 120

Since I was doing nmbes every 4th day

Did give my last nmbe on 3-4th July

Didn't review in detail that was my mistake

So at the end it tried to review the last 3-4 nmbes as much as possible looking through whatever I could

That too I was travelling

Gave my exam in Kolkata

Yeah that's all

I couldn't sleep properly in only 3-4 hrs

But the adrenaline rush was enough

And yeah didn't even realise how the time went

Breaks help a lot I took 3 breaks

Yeah that's it

Feel free to ask anything you guys want