USMLE Step 1 – 264 Experience of an IMG
USMLE Step 1 264
Study period: 2 years
Study material: FA+UW+NBMEs!!! FA+UW+NBMEs everywhere!!!
Biochemistry – Lippincott, 6th edition (you’d better do Kaplan, saves time) Kaplan GENETICS
Physiology – Costanzo 5th edition; BRS
Microbiology Immunology – Kaplan (you’d better do CMMRS)
Behavioral sciences, Biostats – BRS review (by B. Fadem); Kaplan audio lectures; Epidemiology and biostatistics MRS
Anatomy – Kaplan, BRS neuroanatomy
Pharmacology – Katzung, Kaplan
Pathology – PATHOMA + GOLJAN
My approach:
Doing “general principles” (Biochem, Physio, Micro-immuno, general pathology, general pharm)
Doing SYSTEM-BASED REVIEW
Doing what is left (anatomy, behavioral)
Qbanks: UW+NBME.
1st run was UW offline version.
I bought UW for 1 month. Results: cumulative of 91% (because I have done lots of questions offline).
It is very important to make as many NBMEs as u can. It is meant to be self-assessment, but YOU can make a useful learning tool of it. Just analyze your mistakes and weird questions (using google, forums) and repeating the concepts, that you don’t remember so well. I did all of NBMEs. I did all of them offline, but NBME18. My results: approximately 90% correct.
Assessment: UWSA1 = 260 UWSA2 = 263 NBME18 = 254. To my mind, NBME18 was the hardest NBME.
Exam: No surprises. Usual questions, usual pattern, usual length. Something you would expect after doing all the NBMEs and UW questions.
Exam date : 07/07/2016
Results release date : 27/07/2016
FINAL SCORE: 264
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