can anyone who has recently taken step 1 share your exam experience?

thank you

well I took my exam on dec.19th..I think thats pretty recent dont u... for me I have to say that the intesity of the test was like that of usmle world. there were difficult questions but you also had the questions that were intermediate in difficulty...and there were some that were easy...but i dont think there were more than 25% of the test that had that. i would say that majority of it was intermediate. this is not to scare u...it was doable...do questions...as many as you can...this will help u with how they ask the questions on the test and it will also help you build your endurance to sit in front of the computer screen for long periods of time. my advise would be to do usmle world and nbme 2 and 3...the exam intesity is between 2 and 3. good luck and God bless u

Hey st55 what can you say about the USMLE WORLD and the real test?

Same difficulty?
good as learning tool?
Good for prediction?
Same concepts?

If you master the concepts in the USMLE WORLD, would you say that will help you alot to pass?

thanks

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i would say that usmleworld was a good learning tool..doing the questions kind of made me see how to answer questions for the most part. I saw on this site that there was a formula that u should use if you are doing uw that predicts how u should do on the exam... 2.44(uw%)+84 you should get a three digit number....my score when doing the formula was 208 and i got a 207 on the test. i would say that the level of difficulty on the test that i took was about the as usmle world for the most part. i took the test a couple of time and i have done kaplan qbank and usmle rx...but i have to say that they didnt compare to uw! i hope that answered all your questions img! if there is anything else you wanna know just let me know...take care

how were the neuro questions asked

ct scans?
anything else since neuro is my weakest


thank u for all ur replys

Hi St 55,
Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions. How many times did you do Uworld? You said that you took the test a couple of times but i'm not sure to which one you're reffering to. What was your score at the begining with Uworld? If you do it two times, obviously the cummulative percentage will increase. Should you count the second cummulative after the second time by averaging it out yourself?
God bless you

okay... Justjeatit...you asked about neuro...I would tell you to know your tracts really well, along with the neurological disease...I didnt really see anything that was to difficult with neuro...but know those things especially. Also know the what the deficits are when a cranial nerve is damaged...for instance what happens to the tongue when the hypoglossal nerve is damage on the right side? the tongue protudes to the right...things like that. know you hemmorhages as well and differences between the upper motor neuron and lower motor defecits... okay! they can also give u picture of the brain so i would tell u to know where things are located...go to google and search for webpath, when u get to that site go to anatomy-histo..click on it then go to neuroanatomy..there are 60 or so slide that shows you structure of the brain...it helped me...maybe it will do the same for u. okay i hope this helped. make sure u do as many question in neuro as u can get ur hands on because it will help u get comfortable answering questions...the question on the test weren't as hard as the question in the back of the kaplan neuro section...this is just my opinion. make sure u do an nbme! hope this helped. take care.

st

okay as for usmle world... I actually took step 1 a couple of times before i passed! that is not to scare u....u will do just fine on it. This time when i reviewed i started usmle world four weeks before my exam...and finished it about a week before the exam...that was only one time. i reviewed the answers after each test i did..this gets draining but u have to do it...if not it accumulates. I didnt have enough time to review the questions again so i didnt...but if u do then i suggest u do it because i can guarentee that it will only better prepare u for the day of the exam. my uw scores in the beginning were anywhere between 48-60's. when i first started i did the tutormode so u got see right away how u were doing and i would start to freak out if i saw that i was getting questions wrong....so i started doing the questions untimed, random...but i alway kept track of time...do 50 at a time...because u have get use to doing 50 at time without a break...without the tutor mode i saw a change in my score..to about 54-55% so keep at it...repeat the uw if u can...make sure that u know first aid well, and if u can make sure that u do nbme 2 and 3. if u do well on them then that should build up your confidence for the day of the test...and if u dont do hot on the nbme i would tell u to postpone if possible. okay i hope this helped. God bless u... u will do great

St_55,
Sorry to ask you another question..
I saw that you wrote you took step 1 a couple of times before you passed it. I took my exam towards the end of Dec and was 3 pts from passing (though I'm hoping for a better score this time)... What I wanted to ask you was... what did you do differently the 2nd time around (Changed ur studying strategy, took another course, different Q bank?) I took Kaplan Q bank the first time and though it prepared me to sit and do questions I didnt feel it was anything like the exam... Whereas recently I started UW q bank and felt the format and type of questions were really good!

Thanks in advance and congrats on ur accomplishment!

well u were really close to passing...hang in there and u will do just fine. i have to say that i did usmle world and first aid this time for reviewing. whatever concepts that i didnt have down I went to kaplan for better explanation. I also did the nbme(all four of them) i would suggest u do atleast form 2 and 3 make sure that u get above a 500..there hard but it is doable and just keep at usmleworld..u should be good to go. good luck and God bless u