Step 1: 250

Alhamdulillah!!
Got my result today 😊

I wasn’t very active in groups but I would always read everyone’s experiences as they motivated me and pushed me further. I hope my experience helps someone too. I would also go through the questions posted by the wonderful people in this group to clear concepts. I didn’t give myself any score target, I wanted to give my best in the preparation and just give the exam in the month I had planned

When I started my preparation, my concepts of the basic science subjects were very weak and Step 1 felt like an insurmountable, daunting task! But let me assure you that it’s doable. There are thousands of people who do it every year, you can do it too!

Preparation:

Total duration 9 months
Dedicated period 4 months
Study sources: UFAP (It’s GOLD!)

Started with Pathoma videos and book.
Watched Kaplan videos for Biochemistry, Immunology, Neuroanatomy.
While going through these sources I would read the corresponding parts from FA to familiarize myself with the book early on.
If I wouldn’t understand a concept, I would watch YouTube videos for it.

UWORLD:
1st Pass: Started subject wise. I made notes on FA side by side. I would read a chap thoroughly and then would do its questions in the next few days.
I did about 2/3 of my uworld’s first pass subject wise and then switched to timed- random. During this time I was able to do 1 block a day. I would read FA half of the day and then in the evening would do a block with explanations.
Scored about 78% in first pass. (Did it in maybe 4.5 months)

After the 1st pass, I read FA with all the UW explanations in 2 weeks and gave NBME 15 offline.

2nd pass: Incorrect/Marked questions in random timed mode. Some days I would do 1 and some days 2 blocks. I felt that I learnt better if I read FA everyday.
(Spent maybe 1-1.5 month on 2nd pass)

NBME 15: Dec 15th. 25 mistakes (offline)
UWSA 1: Jan 10th. 257 (29 mistakes)
UWSA 2: Jan 23rd. 243 (38 mistakes)
NBME 18: Jan 31st. 235
NBME 21: Feb 4rth. 238

In last month I did Ethic notes by Conrad. I tried to cram Anatomy shelf notes as much as possible.
In the last 10 days I went through all the units, concentrating more on my weaker areas. 5 days before exam I went through the videos of first 3 chaps of Pathoma.
4 days before I listened to Randy Neil’s biostat videos on YouTube again.

Exam day:
I slept for 6 hrs before the exam day. Had a light breakfast with tea. Took A LOT of snacks and coffee.
(Snacks: sandwiches, bananas, protein bars)

The Exam is certainly doable, when I came out of the prometric I was feeling satisfied- like you do when you attempt a tricky block on UW that you think you did good on. I was able to finish each block in 40-45 mins. And then would quickly review the marked questions. It was more UW oriented, some would dig deeper into your concepts and some questions were very straightforward.
From early on try to increase your reading and question attempting skills. Even if you’re doing the UW first time, try not to spend more than 1.5 min on one question. Mark it and move forward.
Wear loose layers so that you’re comfortable throughout. I wore extra pair of socks as well because my feet get uncomfortably cold. I took breaks after every block, would quickly use the restroom and have some snacks.
Definitely Keep some pain killers with you!! I took maybe 3 or 4 that day.

Best of luck to all of you! You can do it!