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USMLE 1--Score 266



My experience:
To start with, i would like to thank this group and all of you, this has been a source of constant support; the past experiences, your questions, and the discussions were all so helpful.
This is not the typical step one path everyone takes.
I graduated last year from the University of Jordan, i started studying in August 2018 and sat for the exam on the 17th of April 2019, i had interruptions in the middle due to many reasons.
At the beginning i was overwhelmed by the amount of resources available i had no idea where to start, but i had to start! I did NOT do; Kaplan nor pathoma/golgan or any book honestly for many reasons: 1) I had internship at a hospital so i didn't have enough time 2) i get bored easily from long videos. this doesn’t mean they are not good, they were just not for me.
I was trying to find videos that were short and comprehensive; i started doing DIT ( i did half of them honestly I wasn't a fan) then i found about osmosis ( i absolutely love osmosis although sometimes its a little bit over-detailed) and then i found out about BOARDS&BEYOND; this is absolutely the best source ever, I wish I could thank Dr.Jason Ryan, he's amazing. I found it to be up to the point, the way he explains the information was just amazing, If i would go back in time i would just do:
Boards&Beyond
First aid ( OF COURSE)
UWORLD
UWorld biostat+100 cases Conrad
I read first aid 4-5 times ( my last read was 10 days before the exam), UWORLD i did the first pass with 88% wrote my notes+ flashcards. at the beginning a block of UWORLD took so much time due to reading the answers and writing notes but then you’ll get used to it and you'll be way faster. I started solving UWORLD from the beginning, simultaneously with my first read of first aid, which i found was very useful
one month before the exam i did the second round with 97% ( in both rounds i repeated the questions i got wrong)
I had two study partners, which i found to be very motivating as i know it gets tough at times. We didn't do the material together, we just studied together on daily basis and i would like to thank them for their constant support Dina Shaban Luai Madanat
Nbmes+self assessments :
I did some offline nbmes at the beginning ( at many times the answer key was wrong so keep checking)
i did UWSA1 ( 3 months before the exam) : 264
I did online:
Nbme 15 255, Nbme 16 273 , nbme 17 271, Nbme 18 261 ,Nbme 19 263
Nbme 20 261 ,Nbme 21 265, Nbme 22 261
Free120 97%
*AMBOSS self-assessment 270
* UWSA2 273 ( one month before the exam)
*I believe the more questions you solve, the better. So i used Amboss questions in topics i felt I'm weak at!
dont give it more time that what it deserves. trust me, there are questions you could answer from your second read, super easy straight to the point and there are some questions that were foreign ( only a couple by the way), those questions that i did not know i didn't dwell on, because its a waste of time.
one advice would be, DO NOT change your answers, go with your gut ( 99% your first answer is the right answer) i always suffered from this problem, and on my first block i changed 5 question that were right, so i decided not to revise after I was done.
i did not find the timing to be a problem in the exam, after every block i was left with minimum of 10 to 15 mins.
I took a break after each block, had a something to eat and went in fresh.
the night before the exam was not the best for me, i was relaxed the whole week before, however on that night i could not sleep i ended up taking Benzo ( well i was not thinking,) at 3 am i started panicking about taking it ended up sleeping 2 hours in total ( NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL) so my first block i was off but i went out drank lots of coffee and it kicked in just in time.
each one has their own style, get inspired but DO NOT COMPARE yourself to anyone else. Do NOT let anything put you down, if you are not doing what someone else is doing, this does not mean, you are doing it wrong!!!
the exam is WAY EASIER than what you think it is, it is very very doable. Just believe in yourself, it is very very similar to NBMES and UWORLD ( it will be like your doing one of them, its literally a mix of both, and there are questions that are very short and some are like UWORLD not longer)
the exam is trying to test your knowledge in key points, so don't dive into small details that are going to confuse you and not help you.
One more thing, try understanding what you are memorizing, if you understand the key points then you should not worry at all!
GOOD LUCK GUYS! hope this helped you
Please let me know if you have any further questions ))))

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