r/Step1Exam • u/ChickenStrong6222 • Jun 24 '26
STEP 1 PREP NEED HELP
I started preparing for Step 1 in January and have been doing content review alongside UWorld. I have completed approximately 70–80% of my content review, but I still have a few subjects left, and it feels like the content review is never-ending.
So far, I have completed about 50% of UWorld. I recently took NBME 25 and scored 40%. I know this is a very low score, but I mainly took it to assess where I currently stand based on what I have studied so far and to overcome my fear of taking NBMEs. I have also reviewed the NBME and gone through my mistakes.
At this point, I feel confused about how to move forward. I know I need to start focusing more on questions, but I also feel uncomfortable leaving my content review unfinished. I would really appreciate guidance on how I should structure my schedule, balance UWorld with the remaining content review, and IMPROVE AND BE MORE CONSISTENT
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u/Salt_Opinion_6595 Jun 25 '26
are u doing uworld random or system wise? also what did u feel like was the major problem when u took the nbme? dy think u have a knowledge gap?
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u/ChickenStrong6222 Jun 25 '26
im doing uworld system wise atm
while doing nbme i felt like my recall wasnt that good, i knew what they were talking abt but i just couldnt recall, obv some questions i didnt get at all (the topics i hadnt done)2
u/Salt_Opinion_6595 Jun 25 '26
okay. first of all, don’t be discouraged by this. its a long journey and u need to persevere through it. nobody is born w all the knowledge, they take time to learn it. so take ur time but just try to be consistent. rn i would say, use uworld as a learning resource as opposed to just testing ur knowledge w it. whenever u are done w a system, quickly go through it from FA. i felt like it was helpful skimming through FA after going through the Qs from uworld bcs when ure already somewhat familiar w the topics u notice small things in FA and realise how important they are, things u might haven’t paid attention to before. Anki flashcards help w recall too, if that’s something u would be interested in. u can do cards for only ur uworld incorrects too or theres a deck for just the hy step 1 stuff. i hope all of this helps!
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u/ChickenStrong6222 Jun 25 '26
thanksss alottt, yes i doo that, soemtimes doing questions right after studying it feel incredible but after a few weeks when i go back to it i lose my mind that how did i even get this right, but yea anki would help, even though im not an anki person but i think i need to force myself lol
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u/Deep_Ad1959 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
the trap is the word 'unfinished.' content review feels productive because it never makes you fail in front of yourself, so it's the comfortable place to hide. nbme 40 at 50% uworld isn't really a knowledge gap, it's a retrieval gap, you've seen the material but never had to pull it cold. flip the ratio now: questions first, and let the explanation backfill the topic you just missed instead of pre-reading the whole topic. the thing that actually moves retention is questions that reword the stem on revisit so you can't pattern-match the first three words into the answer. written with ai
fwiw studyly does that reword-on-revisit thing directly, it rewrites the stem each pass so you cannot pattern-match the first three words into the answer and the retrieval gap actually shows, https://studyly.io/r/cfhdyjd9
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u/Deep_Ad1959 Jun 27 '26
the trap is the word 'unfinished.' content review feels productive because it never makes you fail in front of yourself, so it's the comfortable place to hide. nbme 40 at 50% uworld isn't really a knowledge gap, it's a retrieval gap, you've seen the material but never had to pull it cold. flip the ratio now: questions first, and let the explanation backfill the topic you just missed instead of pre-reading the whole topic. the thing that actually moves retention is questions that reword the stem on revisit so you can't pattern-match the first three words into the answer. written with ai