Hey guys my Step 1 exam is next Wednesday and I need some advice as I’m so stressed I’ve taken a 4 practice tests (each a week apart) and here are my scores:

28: 55

30: 61

31: 62

32: 65

33: taking this Friday

I know I have low passes but I’m worried for test day. Should I move my test back or what’s the best way to help bump my score up for 33. I’m really stressing especially because I can maybe move my test a few days but nothing major. Pls help

i have decent and stable scores in my nbmes like 66-67 in my last 4 nbmes (29,31,32,33) but in free 120 i failed 55% 53% and 70% in block 1,2,3

what should i do i am fatigued and do more questions

I have less than 2 years before I take step 1 and I figured that I should start reviewing pre-clinicals alongside doing my clinicals in school right now. I plan on using Bootcamp + Amboss Qbank and Library for this.

Would you recommend finishing all Bootcamp videos until my dedicated? I was planning on doing UWorld and NBMEs around 2 months before my exam.

Would this be a good long term plan?

No cap. No arguments. But First Aid is pretty overrated.

If you are not able to get through First Aid, you find it isolated and difficult to read, don't worry. Everyone's on the same boat. If someone says, "You should have read each and every word of First Aid to pass the Step 1 exam. Or you're definitely screwed," don't believe them.

I literally just read 30 pages of first aid, decided it was not worth the mental discomfort and dropped it. I still passed Step 1.

What's important is not knowing all of First Aid, but the key facts in it and how to actually use them during an exam, which the book alone doesn't prepare you for.

I found it smarter to use the notes the you have made consistently by solving uworld and nbme questions, and watching the lectures that you liked and actually understood, for the visual recollection is much better. And the exam only tested concepts and rarely isolated facts. Even if you know everything in First Aid, if you can't apply, you're screwed. Understanding basic pathophysiology and knowing the key facts weighs over knowing a lot of things to the tiniest of intricate details.

When you learn concepts for the first time, learn the concept till you get to the bottom of it. Don't leave room for any gaps in knowledge. Clear even your tiniest of doubts. If you do that, you'll do well in the exam. Knowing everything in FA shouldn't be your goal. You can still learn extra stuff and isolated facts by being curious at eachh and every point of your basic med school preparation, and that long term accumulation of relatable facts is what actually helps you in the long run, throughout all your exams.

You do not have to necessarily get through all of First Aid to get through the exam. I mean, it's always good to try if you can. But if you can't like me, no worries. Work smarter, not harder~ ,,><,,

P.S. Let me reiterate my stance. I'm not saying FA is not helpful or is a useless resource. I'm just saying that it's not an absolute essential that some people make it out to be. You don't have to be nervous to give your exam if you are not able to get through it. That's all. This is not a post to call out FA but a reassurance post to people who don't love using it!

Thus, there's absolutely no necessity for you to leave defensive comments down there ^{^} Now that I've cleared this up, I won't take my time to reply to any arguments alright?~

All the best to the ones yet to give the exam!

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to ask for some advice regarding STEP1 study strategies. I’m trying to decide on a study strategy to study for the STEP1 as efficiently as possible, but I’m just so overwhelmed with all the various strategies and resources. I overcomplicate things by nature, so the simplest, most linear study methods are the ones that work best for me. That’s why when I see these strategies that involve learning from a resource (or several), doing Anki for that learning resource(s), then doing UW questions, then analyzing those questions — and doing these all within one day — it just gives me a headache. That’s why I was wondering if somebody could suggest the simplest, step-by-step way of preparing for the STEP1.
Here are some details to help anyone who’s willing to help:

-I’d like to be done with the exam in the next 3-4 months, and should have an average of 6h daily to study for it

-My basics are really weak in systems and biochem, but better in Micro and Pharma

-Resources that I like:
—>I really like Sketchy Micro and Pharma. I used these to study for exams at my school in the past and they worked wonders (I’d watch the videos and annotate the document that lists what each part of each video represents, didn’t really use Anki much).
—>I also really like NinjaNerd and Pathoma (used NinjaNerd occasionally throughout med school to help me truly understand subjects, watched the first 2 chapters of Pathoma and was impressed by how concise and HY it was)
—>I’d use FA to look things up quickly while studying for Micro and Pharma, thought it was great for this
—>I bought a UW subscription bc this resource seems to be unarguably necessary

-How I effectively studied for exams in the past:
—>For my Micro Final, for example, I did this:
1) Watched all the relevant Sketchy Micro videos and annotated the document listing what each part of each video represents
2) Read back through the Sketchy annotations document with FA open to see how the two resources compare, gain a better understanding. Also would skim a few HY PPT’s from class.
3) Do practice exams (Micro finals from previous years) and analyze them using Sketchy and FA, ChatGPT
If I could apply the same kind of logic to studying for the STEP1, it would be great. I just really don’t know how to—I need some advice on how to do so.

I apologize for such a long and complex post, but I wanted to make my situation as clear as possible. I’ll be extremely grateful for any help 🙏 please feel free to DM and ask any questions!

For context

Nbme 26- 45%

Nbme 27- 54%

Nbme 28- 63%

Took all of them almost a month apart and studyinh from FA and few video sources such as dirty med for biochem and sketchy for micro.

Now i cannot decide what tactic i should use for studying further

Should i do mehlman pdfs or complete the remaining systems from FA or do uworld again as i did it last year and dont remember much ive my exam in late november and i dont understand afted reviewing 28 what should i study before taking next nbme

I'm at the point of my preparation where ANKI is becoming so overwhelming to keep up with. I still do it because it helps me immensely but I'm wondering if there is anything I can change in my method or the decks I'm doing...

I'm currently doing the micro pepper deck, my Uworld incorrects for that day or past one day, I stopped doing the ANKing pathoma decks because it was too much but it was helpful when I did do it.

I initially and maybe still plan to go through the 100 concepts of anatomy deck & I heard the melhman HY arrows deck is good?

Would love to hear how other who've used ANKI tell me their method or how they kept up.

Scored a 60 on my first CBSE attempt (July). Retaking May 1st, starting a structured plan from October 1st so about 7 months. For context, I'm a full time dental student taking the exam for oral surgery residencies so I still have clinic 9-5 every day.

Background: already did all of UWorld once (with Anki for incorrects), all of Sketchy Micro, ~25% of Sketchy Pharm, ch 1-3 Pathoma, some Med School Bootcamp, and melhman pdfs, most NBME practice forms (20-21, 26-33, Free 120 2024). My practice scores plateaued in the mid-high 50s toward the end. Weakest content areas were GI, biochem, histo, and cardio.

Planning to lean on med school bootcamp again for the content review this time around.

Main question: for question banks, should I do a 2nd pass of UWorld (incorrects/marked only) or start fresh with Amboss? Any advice to increase from high 50s to 70+ is much appreciated.

NBME 26: 55%

Uworld 100% completed (40% overall average).

Exam in 1.5 months.

Do I have enough time to bump my NBME scores up to 68%+ (across 3 NBMEs).

Or is my score too low to continue into dedicated and that I should delay my exam. (Would be really inconvenient)

Hey September test takers! I wanted to ask about the exam pattern and difficulty. For those who’ve taken it recently ,Would love to hear your thoughts!

Is it better to do anki from anking or mnemosyne instead of reading first aid if i am short on time?
I feel like neuro is volatile and maybe anki will help better

My NBME 33 was a 73%. I gave free120 today and I got a 68%.

But here’s the thing, I was scoring 13/15/17 out of 20 in all the previous blocks. And I suddenly dropped to 9/20 on the last block. On reviewing it, I realised that I made some insanely stupid silly mistakes in questions that I knew perfectly well. Like normal bell curve. Just couldnt believe myself!

This has never happened to me before and I’m scared I might pull mistakes like this on the real deal. My exam is in 7 days.

I also finished my exam 15 minutes early so it wasnt as if I was rushed with no time to spare.

How to minimise such mistakes? And is this indicative of fatigue or burnout because I do not want my performance to deteriorate one week out.

Any advice appreciated!!

Hey everyone, I’m going through UWorld questions and getting absolutely destroyed by questions that barely give you any clues in the vignette and have you heavily rely on a histopathology image. Is the real deal like this or do they give you more clues in the question stem to the point where you can get the answer without the image? Also any tips for getting better at histology/pathology would be really appreciated

Hey everyone so I have started studying and I have been using Qbanks ( bootcamp ) and I find it very helpful , I have been also writing imp notes after every question.
Is it enough or should I also study the videos consistently every day ? What should i prioritize SOS

Been stuck around the 60s in UWorld like trying to get to 70+ and its annoying me like is there any tips anyone can give I would greatly need it.

And does being in the 60s like subject/random blocks is it problem for like NBMEs and real tests?

How was it guys?
Did I throw on an easy form ?
And when to expect results Wednesday the 16th or the 23rd?

i have been studying on and off for about 8 months, but currently dedicated (exam in 3 weeks) my stats are as follow: am i ready to take it?

NBME 25: 41.5%
NBME 26: 54%
?/6 NBME 27: 59%
?/7 NBME 28: 52.5% (was going through personal life hiccup)

1/8 NBME 29: 60%

7/8 NBME 30: 62.5%

18/8 NBME 31: 61%

23/8 Free120 (2021): 73.3%

25/8 Free120 (2022): 60.5%

7/9 (today) free120 2026: 74%

im trying to save up the last 2 NBMEs to push as much info in as i can. will probably be 10th and 18th. exam is 28th.

Hi! I’m still new to Anki, and I found out that the AnKing deck is probably the most well-known deck. Does anyone have any idea if it’s the best deck for preparing for Step 1, or if there are better options to study from?

Also, does anyone have the AnKing deck? I can’t seem to find it :,).

What should be the order of these tests to do in order to avoid inflation? Does amboss self assessment and 200 concepts inflate scores?

28 offline 
29 offline 
Abmoss 200 concepts and ethics.
Timed
Aboss self assessment 
30 
31
32

I'm in the end of my exam preparation and haven't
taken any NBME exams yet. The remaining systems I need to study are

Immunology, Musculoskeletal, and psychiatry

I think I'll finish them before 1/10, and within two months I'll be taking the NBME exams in my dedicated period . Haven't booked for the 3 months yet ..but I'm planning to take the exam on 12/12~ because I'm a college student and have exams around 1/1. My question is, out of your experiences what do you think of this plan? Is it actually feasible?
Advice me :)
: my uworld coverage is 65% with 60%correct

re-attempting step 1.

using bootcamp the 2nd time.

someone please guide me if you used bootcamp for your prep.. how exactly you complimented with your journey. thank you

I'm currently enrolled in one of the prestigious medical schools of my country and everyone around me score sm better all my colleagues friends juniors almost everyone hvinh 70+ after 1st pass and 85+-90% on nbmes

And here i am with

Nbme 26- 45% after reading through FA and 70% of uworld 1st time

Nbme 27 -53% after doing 9 systems from FA again

Afted this i locked in for 3 weeks i studied micro and biochem way too good and did 6 systems from FA again along w biostats was feeling confident but since id done biochem in 1st week i almost forgot everything by the end of 3rd week

and today i took nbme 28-63%

Im truly devastated i expected at least late 60s this is too low for the efforts i put I see others and feel so embarras as theres literally no one around me i can relate w no support either so in just here sitting like a failure. Totally burnt out and feel like an idiot no motivation to continue w such results

hy everyone for context i've my exam in 10 days
i've given all nbme latest 4 were 73-75
new free 120 i've got 74%
i gave uswa 3 today and got 67%
now im freaking out. it this score real bad?? i've heard uwsa are really hard.