Gratitude to the Most High, then everyone who supported me through this process.

Promised myself to write this for motivation and inspiration, esp for my homies who:
a) struggle w test taking
b) didn't benefit much from uworld
c) hate memorizing

My practice score breakdown:

NBME 28 44%, NBME 29 51%, NBME 30 59%, NBME 31 59%, 80% chance of passing, Free 120: 55%. Not exactly inspiring.

Again, the takeaway of this post is not to highlight my approach as the ONE right way, but to broaden folks toolkits beyond the standard resources and empower folks to give themselves grace if they are hitting a wall. For ref, I'm based at a MD school in the US.

Major points (from my experience):

1. SLEEP AND HYDRATE. You saw that coming. Also exercise. Get your heart rate up 3x a week/more. This beast of a test is more stamina than anything. You need to be fresh for the long haul. Your memory and mental clarity will be optimal. Your body will thank you.

2. As useful of a resource uworld is, it is not useful for everyone. And that is ok, YOU ARE NOT CRAZY for realizing it is not working for you.

3. Progress is not linear. Learning styles are not universal. Give yourself grace, and don't judge yourself completely based on other's progress. The key is browsing the content out there and optimizing what works for YOU.

4. On a similar note, the practice scores are objective data that reflect performance, but they not do capture progress holistically. Remember, the subject matter varies per test, as does the relative difficulty. Your test confidence, ability to make educated guesses, your intuitive sense of your content mastery ALL MATTER TOO. You should feel empowered to weigh them critically along with the practice test scores.

5. The free120 is somewhat of a curveball relative to the practice NBMEs. Don't beat yourself up if you feel thrown off by the question style. Trust your hard work, ability, and practice test trend!

6. Random but during practice tests it helped me to break the practice NMBEs into 40 question chunks rather than 50 Qs. Lessens the mental load, and the actual exam is 40 q blocks. Just a thought.

My study plan/main resources

Total study time: 2.5 months. First 6 ish weeks, grinded thru Uworld like everyone and their mom said, feeling my frustration rise and energy drain in a tedious cycle. Scores stayed stagnant, content felt too fragmented and nothing was sticking. Here's where I made a switch that helped:

1. HYguru Step 1 playlist (on youtube) Holy moly Dr. Rahul Damania is the GOAT of breaking down and integrating organ systems/pathophys. He integrates organs systems and disciplines like nobody's business. His active recall based teaching sessions are engaging, holistic, and HY. I learned/relearned half of my preclin curriculum just from watching his HY step 1 playlist. Beyond that his energy, passion, and encouragement are really grounding and heartwarming amidst the tedious grind :)

I would watch one lecture a day depending on the day of the week/what system I was doing that day. Took notes on it in a OneNote notebook. Screenshotted HY graphs, images, questions, etc. Then I would come BACK, at least 1x/week, and test myself on that lecture content via active recall. The active recall/multiple rounds was a major key. Pure gold for a free resource, really grounds you in the content in a productive way.

1. Dirty Medicine on youtube. As tedious as this process is it would have been 10x more so without Dirty Medicine. Watched like 90% of his playlists. Gold mine for biochem and pharm for sure. But SUPER helpful as a basic framework for other organ systems as well as making the tedious rote memorization stick in your brain.

Again, would screenshot his tables/mnemonics into a OneNote notebook and test myself on them regularly. Eg every day I would study cardiology, I'd test myself on the cardiology mnemonics/charts.

1. Pathoma. Immunology bible. If pressed for time, do ch 1-3 and 6. If you don't have access ask around at your school, high chance it has been passed around the student body somewhere.

Would watch his vids, screenshot HY slides/slides I learned for the first time, and take notes on my OneNote. Again, you prolly guessed by now-active recall. Tried to review/test myself on ch 1-3 and 6 twice throughout my dedicated, and once again during the final week.

Other resources

1. Sketchy/anki for bugs and drugs. Consistency beats intensity. Even if its 25 cards a day--keep it going. This is about the long haul. IF you miss a day, don't beat yourself up. Pick it up the next, you got this!

Final week gameplan:

1. Biostats. Randy Neil youtube vids. 2 of them: "The Basics USMLE" and "USMLE the extra stuff." Holy moly biostats was SO approachable after these vids. Free points on test day.

2. Pathoma. Review Ch 1-3 and 6.

3. HYguru Arrows. Analogous to mehlman arrows but less dense and super integrative.

4. DM review pharm. Reviewed my notes from his pharm playlist.

5. First Aid Rapid Review. For folks who don't have the capacity/motivation to read thru the dense book, an angel turned them into videos. I watched Classic Presentations, Classic Treatments, Lab findings, and triads. You can watch/listen/both.

6. Sleep!

Again, this test is a beast. Remember to give yourself grace. There are many ways to succeed here. But you are capable, resilient, and we WILL GET THERE. Sending love and strength <3<3<3

Amoxicllin and Ampicillin Mnemonic: AMPOCILLIN

A - AOM : amoxi or amoxi+clav: Augmentin in Acute Otitis Media in Kid

M - Mono: if wrongly given to kid with mono, it gets a full body rash

P- preg ppx for GBS

O- Osteomyelitis ppx cat or dog bites

C - CAG chorioamnitis: Ampicillin and gentamycin

I - Incisor : Dental ppx in sus conditions like prosthetic valve or prior endo - use either

L- ampicillin : Listeria: meningitis in neonate or >50 years old, add listeria coverage empirically

L - Lower UTI: Cystitis sometimes on nbme

IN - "in" 3 therapy with Hpylori: CAP - Clarithro, amp, ppi.

Feel free to add other classes as well!

Basically title. Went in there and it was NOT like the NBMEs. I have literally no gauge of how I did just that it feels like I straight up failed that shit.

Give me honest advise my step prep is fucked although I prepped and scored between 66%-72% but could not study at all in last 2 week not even a word its in 6 hrs should I cancel or will I be okay?

Testing next Monday and keep falling back on the advice to "trust your scores." However I cant help but feel like I am guessing on 60-70% of the questions I look at. Want to gauge if anyone else felt this way. Here are my scores for context:

Uworld qbank: 42% used, 69% correct

UWSA1: Taken 2/20, EPC = 70,

UWSA2: Taken 3/18, EPC =74,

NBME From 29: Taken 4/1, EPC = 74

NBME Form 30: Taken 4/6: EPC = 78

Testing 4/14 and will take Free 120 Thursday

Took it March 28th, expecting the result today??

Exam in a week. These are my scores so far. I did nbme 31, 29, uwsa 2 and the new free 120 one after the other. So it's been a brutal few days, and I'm pretty much on autopilot at this point and can't really decide if I should take it in a week or postpone it. I personally feel confident about my consistency across different forms and assessments. But the step 1 community is big on statistics so I'm second guessing 😅

Nbme 26, 53.5% in jan

Nbme 30, 57.5% in feb

Nbme 28, 55% march beginning

Nbme 31, 64% march end

Nbme 29, 62% april 3rd

Nbme 27, 62% april 5th

Uwsa 2, 61.25% april 7th

New free 120, 63% april 8th

As u can tell I was stuck in the trenches in 50s for a long frustrating time, but a few days of content review helped a lot. So my plan right now for the next 6 days is to keep revising content and do a few questions and maybe take the old free 120 2 days before the exam and see from there?

Please let me know if anyone has been in a similar boat/ just general advice. Thank you!

Who else is going to get results tomorrow ? I’m quite anxious took mine march 28

Hi everyone! I’m new to this thread and wanted some advice! This process has been brutal and my test is scheduled in exactly one week. I want to know if I should move it back or if should just take it.

NBME 31 - (3/18): 60% (accidentally took this first I didn’t know it was supposed to be saved for last)

NBME 28 - 61% (3/25)

NBME 29 - 61% (4/1) (had a mental break down and started doing 100-120 uworld questions a day)

Old 120 - 78% (4/5)

NBME 30 - 72% (4/8)

So that last score feels too good to be true and I was planning on taking the new free 120 this Saturday to see where I’m at but I’m a little nervous since I’m only about 39% done with uworld. Any advice is appreciated! ♥️ should I postpone it? I’m not sure if I’ll ever feel ready.

i downloaded sketchy vids from like 10 different sources and they are the same bad quality. tysm

Hello i got 64% in free 120 my exam is in 7 days , all previous nbmes were in early 70s so i got quite a shock. I have no idea what to do and how i should proceed. Any tips on what to do in the upcoming days great appreciated. The mistakes in free 120 were not from all over not mostly from a single topic unfortunately

hi! longtime lurker here, i am set to sit for the exam this saturday, does anyone have last minute advice/things to look over?

the anxiety is hitting an all time high because of the things i've heard about the exam being harder than uworld, not like the nbme's at all, or way harder than any practice test ever :/

i'm scared i'm just going to blank when i sit down and not know anything. please give me any advice to calm my nerves or anything i should focus on these last few days if possible?

Guys I have just this month, my last nbme30 is 60%, I’m not quite sure how to increase my score in a month…any revision tips please. Should I continue doing world or give the first 2 weeks for FA review and mehlman. Thanks in advance.

If I had test on 29/03 when the score is gonna be released?

i feel like i should just give up my prep. neuro makes me want to scream. its just all too much. i don’t think i will pass.

So I realized today that obviously I will be pushing back my exam. Forms 26 and 27 were 50%, Form 29 was 57%, and for form 30 I dropped back to 53%. I’m devastated because I felt like the exam was at least okay for my score not to drop. I feel completely hopeless at this point and am not sure where to go from here nor how I’ll pass at this point..

Hi all,

I'm taking another practice exam this weekend and wanted to know some ways to get easy points to increase my score? I'm working on my weak systems but was wondering if there's anything else I can do to improve my score.

I've improved 12 points so far, but would like to improve more.

Could someone please explain this EKG for me (lead/problem)? The answer is apparent based on the stem but I can’t tell what is wrong with the EKG…

Hey everyone! A fundamental question on my part, I am a non-US IMG and do not know many people who took the real deal. I have a friend who took it recently and he told me I should be super comfortable with my scores before sitting it due to circumstances for IMGs. Due to my med school rotations, I am planning to take the exam by the end of this month (April )and my nbme scores:

nbme 26 - 58%

nbme 27 - 62%

nbme 28 - 67%

nbme 29 - 69%

I will take more in the next weeks as I have dedicated time in my schedule right now. I am freaking out right now because my friend thinks it is too risky at the moment considering the chart below. Thanks for the input!

I'm doing uword to study for step 1 and I'm seeing questions about genes or mutations that I don't know like BCL2, BCR-ABL1, BRAF, MYC, RET. Where can I read about this? Or does anyone know what genes I can learn - associate?

02/24/25 - CBSE 01 - 45%

03/07 - UW Exam 1 - 47%

03/14/25 - NBME Form 27 - 63%

03/20/25 - CBSE 02 - 64%

03/20/25 - NBME Form 31 - 63%

04/03/25 - NBME Form 30 - 64%

04/08/25 - NBME Form 29 - 75%

UWORLD about 48% complete with average of 58%. Recent world blocks have been averaging over 60%.

So, I guess the jump last week from Form 30 to Form 29 has me a little scared that this exam was just a little easier than the other. So, I am not sure if I should take the exam or push it off. The reason I did Form 31 and Form 30 earlier is because I was planning on taking Step 1 on 04/07/2025, but panicked last minute and pushed it off for two weeks, and then grinded my butt off for a week. Would love to hear your thoughts. I am taking the exam on the 17th. Lots of love, an anxious M3 student.

I will be taking Free 120 this weekend on Sunday!!

My exam is in 2 days, last NMBE was 1 week ago and scored 60%, haven’t done heavy studying since because I’m so burnt out. I’m scared I might have forgotten everything, can someone in the same position give me some hope.. this exam is killing me I just want to pass but have been stagnant in the 60s for 2 months

So far i have done nbme 27 with 59% score 4 days ago. than did HY Arrow and 100 anatomy concepte. today i will attempt nbme 28. please advise how to proceed forward from now on. i havnt touched anyother mehlman as they would inflat my nbme score. i will do mehlmman in last week.

Hey everyone, I wanted to help my friend figure out how to check her results early on FSM. But when I logged into the site recently, it looks different from how it was when I accessed it a while ago. Does anyone know if FSMB has changed its system? And is it still possible to see your results early, or is that no longer an option?