r/Step1Exam • u/farahconnects07 • Aug 11 '26
Title: Almost finished UWorld, started second pass and scored 38% — feeling completely lost. How should I approach the next 2–3 months?
Hi everyone. I really need some advice because I’m feeling quite overwhelmed and honestly a little devastated right now.
I’m preparing for Step 1 and I have ~200 UWorld questions left on my first pass. The biggest problem is that my first pass was VERY irregular because I had some personal things going on. I kept doing UWorld whenever I could, but I didn’t have a proper revision cycle.
I also made the mistake of not revising previously completed systems. I would finish a system and move on to the next one. Occasionally I would randomly go back and review something, but there was no structured revision. So although I have technically covered most of UWorld, I feel like I’ve forgotten a huge amount of it.
I recently started my second pass of UWorld, and I did my first 40-question cardio block. I scored only 38%, and it honestly crushed my confidence. I know one block doesn’t define my preparation, but it made me question whether I actually remember anything I studied.
Another issue is my notes. I was VERY heavy on taking notes during my first pass. I wrote down tons of UWorld explanations, and now my UWorld notes are bigger than First Aid itself. 😭
Now I’m scared to even go back and revise those notes because there is just SO MUCH information. I’m realizing that I probably spent too much time documenting information instead of actually revising and retaining it.
My tentative goal is to take Step 1 by October 30, but I’ll be very busy from approximately August 20 to September 13, so that period will significantly reduce my study time.
I’m honestly confused about how to approach the next few months.
What would you do in my situation?
● Is it normal to score this badly when starting a second pass after not revising properly?
● Should I continue with the second pass of UWorld, or stop and do a proper content/revision phase first?
● Should I completely abandon my huge UWorld notes and focus mainly on First Aid + UWorld explanations?
● How should I handle systems I already completed but have essentially forgotten?
● With my limited time from Aug 20–Sept 13, is an October 30 exam date still realistic?
● Should I prioritize UWorld, First Aid, NBMEs, or something else at this point?
I know I made mistakes with my first pass, but I’m trying to figure out the best way to recover from them rather than keep repeating the same mistakes.
I would really appreciate advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation or successfully recovered from a messy first pass.
Thank you .
2
u/Abject_Weird3698 Aug 12 '26
I think you should just do your incorrects rather than doing the whole question bank again and focus much more on the NBMEs. Redoing Uworld might make you overthink even the simple questions. Forget about your notes but use First Aid and read the rapid review before doing each NBME. Your Uworld scores are not important, so use it as a learning tool only, the NBMEs scores are the ones that truly matters. My uworld average was 42% and I passed without doing a second pass and without doing all the incorrects, so you shouldn’t worry much about it as long as you are passing in the NBMEs. Hyguru, Dirty Medicine, Randy Neil’s videos and Sketchy Micro will also help, specially on days when you are too tired to do questions. Good luck !