Maeve Usmle Step 1

Hi everyone. I just want to congratulate those who got their Step 1 scores and motivate those who are in the same position as I was a few months back. My score may not be in the 250's and 260's, but I am humbled to share with you my experience of how I struggled to pull my score up. I am extremely grateful to God for giving me this score. 🙏

Just a little background about myself: I am a Non-US IMG, YOG 2016, finished 1 year post-graduate internship in my home country in 2017 and took the Medical Boards in my home country by end of 2017. Started studying for Step 1 by December 2017 and was cut short by Step 2 CS prep by March-April 2018.

Total preparation time: 12 months (last 3 months dedicated period)
Hours/day: 12- 14 hours

Took my Step 1 on March 1, 2019. Got my score report last March 20, 2019.

NBMEs
Baseline NBME 13 online: 163 (January 2018)
NBME 1 offline: 195 (June 2018)
NBME 2 offline: 198 (August 2018)
NBME 3 offline: 205 (September 2018)
NBME 16 online: 209 (December 2, 2018)
NBME 15 online: 221 (January 12, 2019)
NBME 17 online: 240 (January 19, 2019)
UWSA 2 online: 243 (January 20, 2019)
NBME 18 online: 225 (February 20, 2019)
NBME 19 online: 234 (February 23, 2019)
UWSA 1 online: 245 (February 23, 2019)
Free 120: 84% (February 25, 2019)
Step 1 score: 239

My Step 1 journey was a long one filled with moments of self-doubt, anxiety and fear. There were moments when I felt like I wanted to just give up and just do residency training in my home country. However, there were people who put me into perspective and reminded me why I wanted to pursue this dream in the first place and I am forever grateful. With God's grace, support of my parents, family and friends, I was able to brave this beast of an exam. I would like to thank this community especially those who shared their own experiences, strategies during their prep and those who motivated me to keep pushing.

My resources were:
1. UFAP - Uworld x 3 passes, First Aid for Step 1 x 4 passes, Pathoma videos and book x 2 passes.
2. UW Biostatistics
3. 100 Cases (Questions and explanations only)

My preparation can be divided into 3 phases:
1st Phase: Reading and familiarization
2nd Phase: Understanding
3rd Phase: Memorization

Hence, during the 1st Phase (Dec 2017-March 2018), I went over the first pass of UFAP and annotated my notes from Uworld to FA. 2nd Phase (June- October 2018), read UFAP again and 3rd Phase (November 2018-February 2019), studied Uworld Incorrects and FA.

I struggled with low scores in the beginning and middle of my preparation. I took note of all the subjects I was weak in, read the topics on FA/Uworld/Pathoma repeatedly, watched videos on youtube until I understood them. I think this was key to the slow rise of my scores.

Advice on preparation and exam day:
1. Stick to UFAP. You will not go wrong with these resources.
2. Apply the study strategies that work best for you. If you learn best with watching videos, do this. If you learn best just reading and writing down notes, do these.
3. Simulate the exam 1-2 weeks prior your test date. I did 7 blocks of UWorld for 1 day and did NBME 19/UWSA 1 back-to-back days prior to my exam. This helped me plan my breaks and condition myself for exam day to fight off fatigue. For my exam, I made use of all my break time. I skipped the tutorials and took 5-7 minute breaks after the first 3 blocks, 14 minute breaks after 4th and 5th block, and 7 minutes after 6th block.
5. Sleep for 7 hours daily during preparation and day prior to exam. Slept at 11.30pm and woke up at 6.30am daily.
6. Rest the day prior your exam. Relax and pray!
7. Make sure the snacks/lunch you bring on test day won't make you hungry/too full/too sleepy. On my test day, I brought almonds for snacks and apple and sausages for lunch. It helped me wake up and gave me energy to answer the next block.
8. You will feel uncertain and scared and at the same time, relieved after the exam. Pray and trust God. Be proud of yourself for the progress that you've made and for accomplishing this huge feat.

My advice in general:
1. Take your time to digest all the information in UFAP. Don't be frustrated if it takes you longer to understand a particular topic you're weak at. Familiarize, understand then memorize. Repeat until you're confident with your weak areas.
2. Try not to compare yourself with others. We all have our own unique journeys, struggles and timelines. Just focus on yourself and in improving your knowledge. These will all come in handy when we become licensed to practice our chosen fields.
3. Give yourself one day in a week to go out, destress, pray, watch a movie, exercise, spend time with your loved ones and live life. It gives you energy to study again the next week and puts you into perspective.
4. Have a group of friends who are also preparing for the steps and make a chat group so you can message and motivate each other.
5. Trust yourself. Trust the process. Afterall, the knowledge and skills we will acquire during the Steps will help us become better doctors to our patients.

Good luck and all the best to everyone preparing for Step 1!