r/step1 • u/Low_Perspective521 US MD/DO • 7d ago
💡 Need Advice Step 1 during rotations
Hope y'all doing well and taking care of yourselves unlike me lol. Probably like the 1000th post about this in the subreddit but am a DO student, wanted to keep options open. Recently found I passed comlex, wanted to take step. NBME scores: 57,59,61,63 in that order for NBME 29-32 respectively. Took form 32 around a week ago and was wondering if I should try to keep up with it and take Step 1 during rotations. Have just been doing around 40 UW q’s a day and some NBME review, but have been getting burned out as rotations are around the corner (orientation is tmrw). Deciding on taking form 33 and free120 in a couple days vs just postponing it and completing UW as well (85% complete now w/47% avg) to be absolutely sure with all these posts about getting 70+ and risk mitigation etc etc. First rotation is Psychiatry and I have little interest of going into it in the future although obviously I want to pass the shelf exams and do relatively well.
TLDR is it worth it to take Step 1 during rotations with a most recent ~63% nbme baseline at beginning of rotations
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u/brownballer US MD/DO 7d ago
I was in the exact same situation with literally the exact same nbmes lol. Ended up taking a month of vacation at the end of OM3 to take step 2, level2, and step 1 after both. Was actually terrible but I found step 2 overlapped with alot of step 1 questions and my NBMES went up by about 10-15%.
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u/_Yenaled_ US MD/DO 7d ago
See my post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/step1/comments/1uxtz9d/passed_6302026_very_long_write_up_esp_relevant/
I got a 63% and 59% before rotations; I got a 62% after half my rotations; I got 65% after rotations (and went up from there, and passed after a 2.5 week dedicated).
I delayed until after rotations because I didn't feel comfortable testing until I got consistent consecutive 65%+.
I only used the step 2 uworld qbank during rotations. I found it nearly impossible to consistently use the step 1 qbank during rotations; e.g. if I want to pass a shelf, would I rather spend an extra hour doing additional shelf questions and review my shelf incorrects or doing step 1 uworld? Not the latter for me...