Skip to main content

USMLE step 1- 260


Hey guys, this is my experience:
•Graduated in May 2017, from An­Najah National University\Palestine.
•Target score: 250+
•Stages of my preparation:
1- First First Aid read + Dr. Turco Biochemistry Videos (Biochemistry was my weakest area)~ took about 2 months, during this time I traveled once, and after that I did the step 2 CS exam and Hands-on experience in the US ..
2- BACK to step 1, I purchased UW by the end of March 2019, started with the first run UW along with FA together ~ took about 5 months
1st run UW score: 65+%
3- FA thorough read and memorization ~ took me about 3 weeks.
4- Second run UW along with FA ~ one month
2nd run UW score: 85+%
During that time I started doing some of the NBMEs, the thing I did wrong is that some were offline, my scores were in the range of 230 - 245.
5- Then on 22 Dec 2019, I did an online NBME, it was NBME 23, scored around 235, the score wasn’t meeting my goals, I was devastated at that point, but actually it was the best thing because It helped me addressing my weak points, so I worked on them for a few days and that made a huge difference!
6- I scheduled my exam on 15 Jan 2020, and I decided to do my best and try to be ready by that time.
7- About two weeks before the scheduled date I started reviewing about 2-3 systems/ day, used to wake up early in the morning, start studying for about 15 hours/ day with few short breaks inbetween.
I wanted to let my assessments decide for me whether to take the test or postpone it, so I did 3 online assessments:
NBME 21: 250 (7 Jan 2020)
I had a weak area and it was biostatistics, so that day I revised all the biostatistics from FA and UW.
UWSA1: 260 (8 Jan 2020)
UWSA2: 260 (9 Jan 2020)
So I decided to take it ..
8- I decided to keep calm and stress-free, tried to eat and sleep well, and 2 days before the exam I traveled to Jordan (the center of my exam), the day before the exam I revised some of the biochemistry charts, some random CT scan images I googled, I started feeling anxious so I went for a walk at about 5:00 P.m., also I watched the tutorial before going to sleep, then went to sleep at 8:00 p.m., I woke up early, had my breakfast, took my coffee and snacks and went to the center..
•Since doing the second run of UW, I trained myself to do 2 blocks in a row each time!
•I skipped the tutorial except for the headphone check, also followed the order of 2 blocks/ break/ 2 blocks/ break/ 1 block/ break/ 1 block/ break/ 1 block during the exam.
•The results were 3 weeks after the real exam date, scored 260.
•Preparation days were not easy at all, lots of stress but we have to stay positive and never give up!
•I used to write down ‏everything I did during the day before I go to sleep to encourage myself.
Good luck everyone!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MY Step 2 CK Experience 284 Medhat Farwati

Dear (future) Doctors, I am Medhat Farwati, a Syrian graduate from Aleppo University, Faculty of Medicine. Hereby I share with you my experience with Step 2 CK. 1. Score: 284 2. Self-assessments: UWSA 1: 273 (2 months out) UWSA 2: 276 ( 1 week out) NBME 7: 277 (1 week out) NBME 8: 280 (3 days out) 3. Preparation time: After I was done with Step 1, I moved to the US as a postdoctoral research fellow. As such, I realized it is going to be challenging to navigate my research du ties, US rotations, Step 2 CS exam, and Step 2 CK preparation. Collectively, the actual preparation time for CK was 12 months with an average studying time ranging from 4 hours a day for the first 10 months to 8 hours a day for the last 2 months prior to my exam. 4. Materials used: UW Step 2 CK (x3) UW Step 3 (x2) Kaplan Q bank (x1) Internal Medicine Essentials Q bank De Virgilio (surgery textbook) Up to date and Medscape Google, YouTube, and Siri 😊 UW Step 2: Your baseline. Most people preparing for CK rega...
1 comment
Read more

MRCS PART A – EXPERIENCE

DURATION OF STUDY – 3.5-4 months (with work )  Pattern of study  Paper 1 ( Basic sciences )  Anatomy – Emrcs with NASA khan notes ( best part about these notes are he copied all the colourful pics from Snell’s anatomy along with emrcs theory ) . Make small pics for imagination of anatomical relationship .... A big chunk of questions are from anatomy , this needs to be done in a crystal clearway .. Physiology – raftry with emrcs  Pathology – raftry few topics and emrcs Pharma and micro – emrcs  I read raftry for physio complete twice , patho and micro once only  Biostatistics – emrcs  For basic sciences reading emrcs with its theory is more than enough with few references from text books to make the concepts clear  Fawzia sheets for paper one is very very very important , somehow in every session of this examination RCS is putting almost 50-60% paper from these sheets ... Don’t leave them .... Read them at least three times .... Pape...
4 comments
Read more

Step 2 CK Experience (280)--vvimp

• Background: Hello everyone. This is Hasan Alarouri, a Jordanian graduate of Jordan University of Science and Technology (2017). I started my dedicated preparation for Step 2 CK during my internship, and the total duration was around 15 months. Owing to how helpful this group had been during my preparation, and the rarity of experiences similar to mine (Step 2 CK prior to Step 1), I thought I’ll have to share my experience with you. • USMLE Scores: Step 1: not done yet Step 2 CK: 280 Step 2 CS: Passed • Self assessment scores: Free120: 96% (5 mistakes); 5 months prior to exam NBME 4: 6 mistakes (offline); 4 months prior to exam NBME 7: 13 mistakes (offline); 3 months prior to exam NBME 6: 5 mistakes (offline); 2.5 months prior to exam NBME 8: 279 (online; 8 mistakes); 2 months prior to exam UWSA1: 286 (10 mistakes); 1 month prior to exam UWSA2: 274 (15 mistakes); 2 weeks prior to exam • Preparation duration and hours studied each day: The total duration was 15. This was supposed ...
2 comments
Read more