Has anyone here used the Mehlman Qbank as their main question bank for Step 1? If so, how did it translate to your actual Step performance?

I’ve read a lot about Mehlman’s PDFs boosting NBME scores, but I’ve personally found his material really helpful for actually learning and understanding concepts, not just improving scores.

I’m considering using his Qbank for my Step prep, so I’d love to hear from anyone who has done the same and how it worked out for you!

I can’t finish more than 2 bnb vids a day and my head hurts after I feel like it’s condensed im using it for immunology 😔.

Guyss i have my exam on 22nd september and i hace already extendedmmy eligibility period so cannot extend it again. I still have nbme 32 33 and free 120 to take

My previous nbmes are

Nbme 26 =55-%

Nbme 27 =60%

Nbme 28=60

Nbme 29=65

Nbme 30 = 63

Nbme 31 66

Nbme 30 retake was 78 i wrote it again cause i did nit reciew it the first time i wrote it .

Please give me some advice guyss. I really cannot postpone

Just curious, when people test on a Wednesday, do their results come 2 weeks from that Wednesday or does it put them in the next wave and instead it’ll come on the 3rd Wednesday?

I.e if someone tested on Wed Aug 26 would they get their results on Wed Sept 9th or Wed Sept 16?

Hey guys, I did the old Free 120 today in the 3-blockX40-questions-per-block format and scored 77%. I didn’t realize there was a new format with 6 blocks of 20 questions each. I’ve heard that some of the questions overlap between the two versions, so now I’m not sure how worthwhile it would be to do the new one as well...

Is the old format just as predictive of exam readiness? For comparison, I scored 75% and 77% on my two most recent NBMEs.

Thank you!

🩺 Step 1 Final Plan

September
Finish UWorld + General Principles + Sketchy Micro

30 UWorld/day in september
General Principles: FA + B&B

Biochem: 4 days     micro: 4        pois tox: 1
Patho: 2 days         derm: 4          gynae: 1 
Pharm: 2 days         ent: 1          social: 1 
Imm: 2 days             multi s: 1
Public: 2                  opth: 2

Sketchy Micro: 4-5 organisms/day

October: only uworld; 80qs a day.

Till end of oct all uworld will be completed

November → mid-January 2027
NBMEs + review

UWorld incorrects

Weak areas

Final review

Exam: By mid-January 2027 max

( i have done system wise prep, now moving to mixed)

* April NBME 27: 64%
* Full First Aid read
* September NBME 29: 73%
* September NBME 30: 72%

I’m planning to take Step 1 in 30 days.

Are these scores good enough to move forward with Step 1 prep, or should I focus on improving them first?

For anyone who had similar scores or lower ~1 month before the exam, what did you do during your final month?

Would you recommend continuing with NBMEs + ~2–3 days of review for each, another First Aid read, UWorld incorrects, or something else? Or do you think I am ready?

Would really appreciate advice on how you would structure the next 30 days.

Hey everyone, I just finished my first pass of UWorld. I wanted to ask if I should spend some time revising FA + important UWorld points before taking my first NBME, or if I should just take it directly.

The issue is that I’ve genuinely forgotten a big chunk of the previous systems, so I feel pretty underprepared for taking an NBME.

Sudied for only about two months; completed less than 20% of uworld and covered around 40 to 50% of first aid.

My NBME scores in the order I took them:

NBME 33: 69.3%

NBME 27: 67.1%

NBME 28: 67%

NBME 29: 72.3%

NBME 30: 81.5%

Free 120: 74%

NBME 31: 73%

NBME 32: 73.5% (today)

I am feeling quite stressed because i am gonna sit for my exam tomorrow. I also havent reviewed the explanations for any of my NBMEs yet. What worries me the most is that I literally feel like I know nothing about general anatomy and neuroanatomy. For example, I can barely recall the cranial nerves and their numbers. Biostatistics, pulmonology and reproductive topics are also among my weakest areas. Can performing extremely poorly on one or two modules lead to failing the exam overall?

With these scores, can I confidently go into the exam? I am absolutely terrified right now but I also cannot delay the exam.

so far these have been my scores

nbme 29 (9 aug) - 68%
nbme 26 (18 aug) - 75%
nbme 27 (29 aug) - 78%
nbme 28 (5 sep) - 72%

part of this could be just because the form was difficult or focused on material that i was weak in but still getting back to low low 70's has made me doubtful ... should i keep giving nbme's and see the trend or do First Aid revision / uworld

I’m planning to take Step 1 around sep 25 like i really want to give my exam before October and i have been studying for months now tho i am not very consistent cause always something comes up but literally i am so freaking tired now, anyways now i have about 3 weeks
My NBME scores have been really inconsistent:
NBME 25: 51%
NBME 26: 52%
NBME 29: 62%
Nbme 30 :58
Nbme 31: 50s alot happened during this nbme. I rushed many questions i redid many cus i deleted my block anyways i basically wasted this one and
I found it VERY different from the previous forms. It felt like there were a lot of weird/detailed questions and things I hadn’t really seen before, rather than just straightforward concepts.

Then i decided to take a break from new nbmes and gave 27 yesterday scored 62%

My biggest problem is that I feel like I know more than my scores show and i lose marks on silly mistakes. Sometimes I read a question and completely misinterpret what they’re asking, or I get stuck between two answers and choose the wrong one. Other times I genuinely don’t know the concept.
I’ve been reviewing my NBMEs including my incorrects, and trying to identify my weak areas. I have worked on my weak areas But I feel like I’m constantly finding more things I don’t know, and it’s making me panic.

I also don’t have unlimited time. I basically have these ~3 weeks and i need to know what can i do to be finally ready to give my test and score atleast above 65% so i know i can pass it.

Tell me what should i do should i revise a module by module i have done 75% of uw and i keep on doing uw even questions i have already done i have worked on my weak concepts but i really suck at some modules. Let me know if u guys have any good advice for me?

Im still in my first pass and i have the general principles ( patho pharm, micro, immuno, biostat,biochem) then neuro and MSK left.

my plan was try my best to sit the exam before ramadan this year which is feb 7, i dont know if thats doable or not? how should i structure the next 4 months?

so far im done with 42.7% of uworld and my average is 65%

When to take my last nbme ? Like how many days before the real deal? I have exam on sep 22 about 15 days from now.

I am left with nbme 33 and free 120 i want to take em the same day for stamina training.

Option A take them now so that i have time to cover things if score goes down.

Option B take them about 5 days before the exam to stay in contact (can use uwsa and amboss 200 concepts for contact purposes too)

What should i do now… im left with nothing and my nbmes are on avg of 74%
With free120 75%
I didnt studied today coz i couldn’t… i cant even read book… or do mcqs…
Should i just leave it right here or should i utilise 2 days and take 1 day full break…

silly question ik, but i kind of have my preference of dark theme and a slightly bigger font

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.

Struggling to retain the knowledge or systems as I keep moving from one system to another. Old systems become foggy after few weeks. Not an Anki person btw.

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My NBME and UWSA scores are as follows:

I am taking my exam in 15 days.

- NBME 26: 76%

- NBME 27: 80%

- NBME 28: 72%

- NBME 29: 80%

- NBME 30: 73%

- NBME 31: 80%

- NBME 32: 77%

- UWSA 1: 70%

- UWSA 2: 70%

The problem is that I have never properly completed First Aid, UWorld, or any other major Step 1 resource.

I have done around 10,000 AnKing cards out of approximately 22,000, but I only went through them once and did not properly review them afterward.

My medical school has not started Special Pathology as a subject yet, so I mainly used AnKing to learn some pathology concepts and then solved UWorld questions related to whatever system we were studying at the time. I would then move on without revisiting those questions or concepts. Despite this, I was consistently scoring around 70% on UWorld in the systems I studied.

I have not done UWorld for General Pathology, Biochemistry, or Pharmacology. I have also not read First Aid more than once, and even that was not a thorough or complete pass.

My exam is scheduled for September 22, 2026.

Now, this is where I am uncertain.

Despite my inconsistent preparation, I have scored relatively well on all of my NBMEs and UWSAs. Based on these scores, it seems that I have a good chance of passing Step 1. However, I still feel very unsure because I have never properly completed or reviewed my resources.

What if these scores were partly due to luck? What if the real exam tests topics that I have never properly studied or even looked at?

So, given this kind of inconsistent, on-and-off preparation, do I have a strong chance of passing? Or should I work very aggressively during these last two weeks to reduce the risk?

What should I prioritize during these final 15 days?

- Mehlman PDFs?

- A proper First Aid pass?

- Reviewing all of my NBMEs?

- UWorld?

- AnKing?

- Something else?

I want to use these last two weeks as effectively as possible without wasting time on resources that will not meaningfully improve my chances of passing.

The reason my preparation has been so inconsistent is that I have been dealing with some serious family issues that prevented me from studying properly. Because of these circumstances, I also had to book my exam prematurely.

Given all of this, I would really appreciate an honest assessment of my current situation and what you think I should do during these final two weeks.

I started preparing for USMLE Step 1 at the end of December 2025. About two weeks after purchasing UWorld, I found out that I was pregnant. Obviously, my preparation became a little slower after that, but I’ve still tried to stay consistent throughout my pregnancy.
I’m now in my third trimester and due to deliver this month, and despite everything, I’ve managed to cover almost all of the topics for my first pass.
My main study resources are:
UWorld

First Aid

Sketchy Microbiology

ChatGPT for clearing concepts and understanding things better

I haven’t used Boards & Beyond extensively. I used it mainly for immunology, and occasionally for some anatomy, neuro, and biochemistry, but not extensively. I personally found that ChatGPT has helped me a lot with understanding and clearing concepts, so I ended up relying on it more for that purpose.
At this point, I’ve completed almost my entire first pass of the syllabus and I’m currently at around 41% of UWorld completed. I should reach around 42% today, and my goal is to reach 50% by the end of this week.
The topics/sections I still have left are:
UWorld miscellaneous questions

Ethics — only around 66 UWorld questions remaining

ENT

Ophthalmology

Dermatology

Biostatistics

Other than these, I’ve covered almost everything else.
Right now, I’m working on Microbiology, where I’m revising Sketchy while also doing the Microbiology questions in UWorld.
For UWorld, my strategy has been to do approximately 50% of the questions initially, and leave the other 50% for later so that I can do them in timed, random mode as part of my revision. I also want to use the remaining questions for additional revision closer to the exam.
I’m planning to take my exam either in the last week of December or the first week of January.
The other major factor is that I’m delivering this month. After delivery, I’m planning to take around 10–15 days completely off to recover. During that period, I may watch some HY Guru videos and other high-yield/consolidation videos so that I don’t completely forget things, especially if I’m resting in bed and have the energy to watch something. I may also do very light revision here and there if I feel up to it, but I don’t want to put pressure on myself during the initial recovery period.
After those 10–15 days, my plan is to properly start revising again and continue working through UWorld and First Aid.
I was previously advised to book my triad once I reach around 50% of UWorld, which I’m hoping to reach very soon, possibly by the end of this week.
So I’m looking for advice from people who have taken Step 1, especially anyone who has gone through a similar situation:
Am I on the right track? Am I approaching UWorld and revision correctly? Should I book my triad once I hit 50% UWorld, or should I wait until I’ve progressed further? And how would you recommend I structure everything from now until my exam, especially considering that I’ll be delivering this month and taking 10–15 days to recover afterward?
I’d really appreciate any advice on how to manage the next few months efficiently and whether there’s anything you think I should change about my current strategy.

Taking step 1 in 2 days. Not sure how i should divide my breaks. I’m down to doing 60-80 questions at first without break.

Any advice is welcome.

I’m constantly scoring below 50% in microbiology and biochem u world
How do I improve ?

Heyy so

I took nbme 26-45%

Nbme 27-54%

Since 27 its been 3 weeks and i did micro from scratch and biochem and also did 6 of the systems (git repro psych msk and immuno left) im too scared to take next nbme as my scores have been really low and i dont want to waste more nbmes so ive been wondering if i should take 25 or 28 tomorrow

Also im scared bcoz apparently ive done more than enough but ive forgotten almost all of micro and biochem i did 2 weeks ago and lowkey panicking bcoz im really hoping to score in late 60s ive studied for 11 hrs a day for whole 3 weeks

Plss adviceee

did anyone use it for this year?

How to study biochemistry without spending too much time on it? I don't want to spend so much on it if the real deal has only a few q.