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This is my step 1 experience. Real deal: 256


Hello.
This is my step 1 experience.
Real deal: 256
NBME16: 238 - 4 months before exam
UWSA 1: 264 - 3 days before exam 
UWSA 2: 244 - 3 days before exam
NBME18: 247 - 2 days before exam
Free 120 sample: 89% night of exam
Exam done on June 10th, results July 10th.
Preparation time: 11 months
I'm a second year internal medicine resident; I am from Jordan and graduated in 2016.
The exam level was easy-mid; most of the questions were from FA. UW also covered almost every concept.
The questions were very similar to those in NBME18 and Free120. I thought they were easier than UW questions, however question stems were relatively long.
Preparation:
11 months - average of 5 hours per day (I have a full time job)
Last 10 days I managed to do 10 hours per day.
I started with FA which took me about 6 months. Some subjects were difficult and required more time than others (e.g: biochemistry and genetics)
After that I did UWorld one run (timed, random) and got 81% correct - took me a about 4 months.
-FA is very condensed and almost reviews every high-yield piece of information.
-But my great teacher was UW, and that was especially true in genetics and biochemistry, and histology. I annotated stuff on FA.
Annotation was a pain in the neck initially, then it got easier. I taught myself how to start taking important notes from UW questions once I lay an eye on them, I.e I memorized and wrote notes at the same time.
At the beginning I couldn't do more than 10 questions per day, then it got better towards 40-50 per day.
-Then I tried to review FA second time. I planned to do it in 3 weeks, but I got delayed and I had only 13 days left before the exam.
This is one of the falls that happened during my preparation. As I realized that I needed more time to go over the entire book, I started reviewing the areas I felt were filled with details that can be easily missed (e.g biochemistry and genetics, second messenger stuff, oncology and hematology, cytotoxic meds, immunology).
I used this group as a support system and benefited a lot from people's experiences. Thank you so much, much appreciated.

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