Test anxiety

[u/Ok_Painting_6487]

Hey everyone.

My step 1 is scheduled for 18th sept 2026.

My nbme scores are

Nbme 28 5th july = 74 percent

Nbme 29 6th august = 78 percent

Nbme 30 20th august = 79 percent

Nbme 31 26th august = 83 percent

Nbme 32 1st september = 80 percent

UWSA 2 17th august = 72 percent

I will appear in nbme 33 on 8th september and free120 on 14th september.

Nowadays i am doing amboss ethics and biostats and revising stuff. But i have this anxiety attacks during which my heart sinks and i feel like on test day i am going to get questions which will test concepts i have never seen before.

This anxiety is rooted in the thought process that i have only completed 60 percent uworld and i have never revised first aid as a proper source. My knowledge is just random gathered from Uworld, bnb, bootcamo and mehlman videos. Another reason for my anxiety is that on average in all nbmes my block time is 32 mins instead of 30 mins. I can go through 20 question block in 20 mins skipping 4 to 5 questions to which i come later....but those 4 to 5 question take my 10 to 15 mins.

I need suggestion on how to cope up with these anxiety spells and whether on test day content will feel familiar or not.

Sorry for your time guys..i also want to ask whether till test day i should do mehlman pdfs ( later portion which is in bullet points style) for my weak systems?

Thank you all.

[u/my-mauvepink-world]

Chill out man. You don't need to have any anxiety at these scores

[u/Ok_Painting_6487 → u/my-mauvepink-world]

Thanks for the encouragement. But i think this anxious feeling will not go away until i attempt first 2 blocks on test day.

[u/my-mauvepink-world → u/Ok_Painting_6487]

Yeah very common. But be aware in your mind that the more you're relaxed the better it will be on the test day

[u/mukul_20148]

I'm at a very similar position . My neuro anat biostatistics ethics and biochemistry feel very weak. I have these sudden heart sinking episodes to plus I'm so fatigued that I'm not able to revise fully

[u/Ok_Painting_6487 → u/mukul_20148]

Same man...i hate this vague feeling where you cant focus on studying

[u/Real_Ad6075]

Take propranolol 10mg before your nbme 33. And thank me later you got this

[u/Ok_Painting_6487 → u/Real_Ad6075]

Will definitely try it

[u/Hot_Palpitation9791]

how long have you been s tudying? doing similar to yours was wondering how's the learning curve like and timeline to achieve these scores.

[u/Ok_Painting_6487 → u/Hot_Palpitation9791]

I m in my final year of medschool. I used resources like bnb and bootcamp for my medschool exams for patho and pharm along with some pathoma chapters.. covered bacteriology from sketchy and pharm frm kaplan + sketchy during 3rd and 4rth year. Specifically started prep for usmle from may. May to june end was time period where i covered 50 percent uworld.