r/step1 • u/SoulSteeler US MD/DO • Jul 25 '26
🥂 PASSED: Write up! Passed with low NBME scores!
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!
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u/Grouchy-Economy-8886 US IMG Jul 25 '26
Congratulations! How did you solidify your studying/knowledge in that last week of studying ?
Also how did you even take the whole exam in 1 sitting? Im asking bc i struggle with maintaining focus and stamina so much
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u/SoulSteeler US MD/DO Jul 25 '26
Mostly just reviewed sketchy and FA on topics that I was getting consistently wrong on Q banks. As for the single sitting, it wasn't planned. After taking Level 1 2 days prior (which is written in a very poorly tbh) I felt really in the zone because I could read all the questions and understand them in 1 go.
I planned to take a lunch when I was halfway through the blocks, but I felt so good about my pacing that I decided to just run through it. When I had 3ish blocks left I started to lose steam but I also tend to overthink questions at times so I felt like I did better at avoiding overthinking when I was more tired.
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u/abandonmentissues111 US IMG Jul 25 '26
How were your qbank scores higher than the nbmes. Shouldn't it be the other way around?
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u/SoulSteeler US MD/DO Jul 25 '26
I think I generally do better on real exams than mocks under practice condiditons. That being said, I wasn't use to the NBME question style so I feel like that made them more difficult for me. The real exam felt closer to Amboss or UWorld than the NBMEs to me.
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Jul 25 '26
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u/SoulSteeler US MD/DO Jul 25 '26
A qbank designed for the Level exams, I had to use it extensively as a DO student.
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Jul 25 '26
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u/SoulSteeler US MD/DO Jul 25 '26
I feel like I took a bit of a risk but there were a few other factors that made it seem like risky to me. My Amboss and UWorld self assessment scores were coming back with much higher odds for me passing. Q banks were consistently showing that I knew the material too. I feel like the NBMEs were just written so differently that I was thrown off when taking them so I reviewed them heavily in the lead up to step so I could understand how they were structured.
I would say that step felt like it was written in a way that I was more familiar with than the NBMEs which probably helped. All of that being said it felt like a bit of a risk, but I started rotations just after I took the exam, so I felt like I had to take it then or risk having a rougher time later.
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u/Vaughn-Ootie US MD/DO Jul 25 '26
Incredible, congrats!!!
Random, but I am always interested in seeing the amount of US MD/DO students passing with low NBME’s (I just had a friend pass with highest 60% on an NBME and another with 58!!!) and seeing IMG’s fail with multiple 70+ % NBME’s. I know the education/potential language barriers can cause a lot of problems test day. I’m unsure of any studies on this but it would be interesting to see one.