Thread: UWorld

Can people who have taken the step 1 comment on what sort of scores they were getting on UW while studying and by the time they took the exam? if its ok, can you also post your actual step score?

i'm now 3 weeks into studying for the steps... and i'm doing practice questions based on whatever material i've completed to date... doing a block of 46 everyday for the last 2 weeks and doing ok... but my test scores have pretty much stagnated at this point... around 75-ish%...

to people currently studying- feel free to comment too...

thanks and gl to everyone!

This has been discussed on ValueMD before, but I'll tell you what I've heard, anyway.

There's a formula that some use. It varies, but I like this specific one the most:

(your consistant avg x 2.33) + 83 = estimated Step 1 score

I know of two people's real USMLE Step 1 scores that I can comment on using this formula.
One of them had a 69 average on UWorld, the other had a 74 average.
Plugged into the formula, those averages give you: 243.77 and 255.42.
In real life, those two folks got a 243 and a 251 respectively.
So if a test taker stays consistent, and doesn't freeze up on exam day. One might say that this formula is pretty indicative.
However, some have said that its flaw is that the lower the UWorld score, the less accuracy this formula has...
Basically...this formula states that a 50% UWorld average is equivalent to a ~200 on the Step. However, when these same students take an NBME, their Step1 prediction on that exam is much lower. Thus, the consensus has been that that formula only works for high UWorld averages, and that one should not attempt to take the Step if he/she is sporting a UWorld average below...let's say...55-60%.

look at the studentdoctor.net usmle step1 forum.. I think I had like a 61% average when I was done and got a 227.. 75% on Uworld is really good. keep it up.

thanks for the replies guys... appreciate it. anyone else have any input? also for pharm... how much detail do you really need to know? i know that some people might have had pharm-heavy tests and others not so much... but generally do you need to know a variety of drugs within each class and a lot of their adverse effects? there are times where UW tests on (what i feel) are obscure facts...

i also found that in biochem there were questions that expected you to know the pKa's of diff amino acids... thought that was a bit too much... i mean maybe if you're gunning to break a 250 or something...

i'm rambling now ... back to work but feel free to discuss and comment on step studying...

when's an ideal time to start doing UW questions? In term 5 right now...and still trying to figure out a way to manage pathophys and pharm. I would like to board prep in the next few weeks.

OP, sorry if I hijacked your thread...thought this is a better place to post my question. Best wishes with your prep.

It is difficicult to accuratly extraopolate your step score from uworld . I think you need to look at it in more general terms . For instance a Uworld score of >70% would be above average step 1 , 50-70 would be average , below 50 would be below average ( theese numbers are my opion from experience and friends and not based on any real data) . My advice to you is not to get caught up on what percentage you are scoring on Uworld. Most importantly make sure you are using it as a tool to learn from, (the explanations for the questions are immensely valuable)and not an assement to guage potential step 1 performance. If you want to see if your ready for the real thing my reccomendation is to do the most recently published practice exams. They are far more accurate at guaging potential step 1 scores.

I think its best to start Uworld during 5th term , many of the concepts for pharm and pathophys that are tested by sgu show up in the qbank.

Also, to better reflect how you might do on the Step...don't just do 46 questions on the topic you just studied. Your score will be inflated. Doing 46 random questions is the way to go...

thanks for the help guys...

and to thesamrat: i tried to do UW questions last term but to be honest it was more bc of the fascination of what it was lol... its obviously got a reputation and people throw the word around like no other... but i have to say it didn't help much for pathophys bc it was above what was being taught in class and they tend to get into very fine details of things on UW. on the other hand if you're doing this for board prep then obv its the way to go... though again be cautious with this bc you havent studied a lot of the old material in a while so dont let it get you down... maybe do questions related to whatever system you're doing in class and add some notes to your FA from lecture that are related...

all in all i'd say focus on term 5, get it over and done with and then move on with your life (i.e. start board prep). there's enough to do in term 5 and that combined with the senioritis takes up a good chunk of your day.

You should be fine. Good luck. NBME exams 2-3 weeks before your actual step is probably the closest indicator of how you will score. Mine was within 2 points of prognosticated score.

sorry to dig up an old thread again.... well my own thread haha...

anyway just wanted to check if anyone has taken the UW practice exams (i.e. full 4 block exam)... how did it compare to the nbme's/step 1? i know everyone says the true judge of your ability is probably the nbmes... but since i've taken this i thought i'd check.

thanks