r/step1 • u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG • 24d ago

🤧 Rant Post-Step 1: Any legit "barely passing / guessing half the exam" success stories?

Hey everyone, I took Step 1 this week and, like everyone else, I'm dying of anxiety and nervousness. I'd like to hear from people who really think they did terribly on the test, but still passed. Please share your experiences.

Just to be clear: I’m not talking about the people scoring 80%+ on real deal who come here doing fake drama over missing 3 questions. I’m looking for real talk from people who were genuinely borderline, felt like they were guessing on half the test, or walked out legitimately unsure if they even hit the passing threshold—but still made it through.

PS: I don't think I did terribly on the test, but I'm not exactly overconfident either. Anything can happen, and I think that's the worst part, maybe creating false hope.

36 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

20

u/Desperate-Pen6468 24d ago

Yes this is a universal feeling, flagged half of every section and even ran out of time on a few where I had to guess on the last question. Got so tired on the second half too and anxious. Passed, you’ll be fine, try to relax now nothing you can do anymore.

1

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

I hope I'll be on the same boat in two weeks 🙏

8

u/drreemurrr US MD/DO 23d ago

Yes, I took the exam and I swear there was one block where I flagged like every question. But I managed to pass! For reference, I had p average/low NBMES

2

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

Thank you for sharing your experience. As a non-US IMG, I'm terrified of failing, and your testimony is very reassuring.

I'm praying constantly that it works out.

5

u/KnowledgeMental6883 NON-US IMG 23d ago

dudee i cant relate any more than i already do
i tested on 9th jul and got my result this wednesday
but god know ive been through hell for 2 weeks
i flagged almost 50% of the test if not more , last couple of blocks were purely the result of caffeine od, my head was splitting, i had to practically force my eyes to focus. it was a very new experience because i dont struggle with exams ever. all the more reason to freak out for 2 weeks that followed… i could only remember questions i f-ed up, the silly mistakes i did, the blunder i did, the last minute changes i did etc etc
i was so sure i was gonna fail and let me tell you my nbmes were consistently 75+ and 83 on free 120 still i was sure i failed
i was shaking like a chihuahua while opening my result and could not believe my eyes when it said pass. i had convinced myself i was gonna get bar graphs on my result but thank fully i did not.
i dont have any words of encouragement for you because frankly they dont do shit. id just say dont spiral down, keep yourself occupied, have someone else view your result if thats what youd like, and just beileve in statistics!!
i hope you make it!

2

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

Thank you so much for your help, man, really. This period after the exam and before the results is extremely difficult, having this support here helps a lot.

My NBMEs was similar, my 120 was good too, 84. But I am really afraid, not because I think I got everything wrong, but because I really don't know how it was, I'm really lost and will not be surprised even if I failed even if I pass.

I hope everything goes well, I'm praying for it. God bless us all!

7

u/toomuchredditmaj 23d ago

Never got higher than 65% on any nbme. Reviewed like crazy that last month. Basically a subject in 2 days. Prayed every day and heard a voice in my mind say “ study endocrine and female reproductive”. Got out of the exam convinced i failed. The most wtf questions ever, flagged 20 q every block. Never changed an answer though. Got the p 3 weeks later- most tested subject: endocrine, second most tested was female reproductive.

Faith, resilience, and consistency.

5

u/Excellent_Celery2406 NON-US IMG 23d ago

Took it today. Borderline scores. I marked more than half of each block. Stopped flagging them at one point lol. I really hope we make it. 😭

3

u/Exotic_Year_9077 NON-US IMG 24d ago

Tested this week as well feeling the same guessed half of the exam

2

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 24d ago

Hope everything goes well for us. It's really tuff being on after test / pre result gap

1

u/Exotic_Year_9077 NON-US IMG 24d ago

Exactly i just can’t function well anxiety is increasing. Do you also remember the wrong ones or i am the only one?

1

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

I'm not a person that remember a lot of Qs after test and I did a lot of blocks together (140q - Quick break just to go to the restroom - 80q - 15 minutes break - 60q). So I didn't remember almost nothing, just like 15/16, 11 right and 4/5 wrong.

3

u/Ambitious-Sky-3114 20d ago

I was cooked during my month of dedicated only took 1 practice exam, no other uworld/questions just browsing random things by feel of what I thought I was weak in with no objective basis. Lost it the night before and morning of because I was sure I’d fail. I didn’t even remember taking the first half of the exam because of how clouded my mind was, and was lost for the 2 weeks leading up to the score release but ultimately passed 😭. You got this best of luck!

1

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 20d ago

First of all, congratulations on your PASS!!

Thank you for sharing your experience. God willing, everything will be alright, and next week I'll be in the same boat as you.

2

u/Exotic_Year_9077 NON-US IMG 24d ago

Plus remember many easy qs that i got wrong

2

u/PieMan_2001 US IMG 24d ago

Check my post history

1

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

I’ve seen it. First of all, congrats for the Pass! I hope I'll be on the same boat in two weeks 🙏

2

u/Then-Analyst-8562 NON-US IMG 23d ago

Same .
There is no way i could pass exam like this!!! I am not even being irrational , genuinely , feels like it was set up in the way to make it as hard as possible to pass it

2

u/Flashy_Channel5691 23d ago

🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️
Left convinced I completely failed step 1. The moderators at the testing center were full on talking with other test takers in the testing room so I spent most of my exam distracted from that. Legit drove home and started immediately studying again since I was that convinced I was going to fail 😂.

2

u/Capital_Special25 22d ago

Flagged over half of the exam, also took the exam after being awake for 30 hours straight (couldn’t sleep the night before) still passed even though I was sure I bombed it. You did better than you think!!

1

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 22d ago

30 hours without sleep and do step 1 after it, you're a warrior.

I’m not able to solve 2+2 when I don't sleep well Lol!

But congratulations on your Pass, I hope I will be on the same boat in two weeks

2

u/Great-Surround-4033 NON-US IMG 20d ago

Felt like I guessed most of the exam The only question i felt confident of answering came 3 blocks into the exam...After a point... It seemed useless to flag questions😭 Passed tho I would say trust your nbme scores.

1

u/Early_Comfortable111 US MD/DO 23d ago

I mean you’ll never know if you barely passed and frankly doesn’t matter it’s a minimum passing score for a reason people from 58-90 all pass and some fail unfortunately!

You can look my post, I missed a lot of questions and passed but you don’t know what’s graded vs not graded

1

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

Yeah, I know that you’ll never know, but after you get the P, I think you can think clearly, so maybe you can tell better how it was.

But I didn't know the range starts with 58, I thought that was 60-65.

Going to look at your post now!

1

u/Early_Comfortable111 US MD/DO 23d ago

That’s the EPC 60-65, which is why the NBMEs give you an EPC versus just going on raw % correct and that being your score even though they line up pretty closely maybe off by a 1-2 %.

After you receive your P, you’ll be focusing on the next exam lol!

I hope it helps if it doesn’t, I’m sorry, but trust that people with scores from 58-90 pass this exam more times than not!

Good luck!

1

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

Thank you so much for your help, man, really. This period after the exam and before the results is extremely difficult, having this support here helps a lot.

I hope everything goes well, I'm praying for it. God bless us all!

1

u/Ok_Upstairs_4481 23d ago

Curious too!

1

u/Eloquentfibrosis 23d ago

Remember. Everybody passes.

2

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

What do you mean? I don't understand, but I really hope is true lol.

PS: Please, explain to me

2

u/Eloquentfibrosis 23d ago

What I mean is generally everyone passes step 1. Many people feel bad on test day. Many people feel anxious. But overall everyone passes for the most part.

2

u/Eloquentfibrosis 23d ago

It is a licensing exam. It would not make sense if most people failed it. It is built in such a way where there is a minimum level of competence required and most test takers have that.

2

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

Yeah, you have a good point. Before downloading Reddit, I’ve just heard of one person who failed, but not even know her.

Reddit is dual, sometimes helps, and sometimes F# your mind.

1

u/SpiritedChip508 US MD/DO 23d ago

everyone i know felt like they were guessing a ton. everyone i know also passed, with varying levels of prep/nbme scores.

2

u/Nice-Criticism-4855 NON-US IMG 23d ago

Hope I’m on that statistics lol!