MY STEP 1 EXPERIENCE IN FINAL YEAR
HAMMAD MALIK
SCORE: 244
I started my initial prep in 4th year with Boards and Beyond during the pathology modules
alongside First Aid 2019 and Pathoma. Halfway through I picked up USMLE-Rx and was able
to finish 70% before 4th Prof. After being done with prof at start of October, I took a short
break and started to run through Sketchy Micro and Pharma since I had not done those
since 3rd Year and was a good refresher. End of October I started Uworld Random timed
everyday I would do a block early in the morning before 1st lecture or 2nd lecture and then
go for wards. After wards I would review daily till 8:30 after which I would retire from the
library and take a break for the day. I did anki alongside Uworld and created a reference
deck with ZANKI + Brosencephalon and Pepper Decks. When reviewing UW, I would find a
good card from the above 3 decks and add some extra information and add to my own
masterdeck ‘MY STEP 1 Deck’ It was organized system wise as shown below.
I would do a block, review it side by side with my First aid and make anki cards for memory.
At 50% UW done I gave NBME 13 and scored 225. After finishing UW around March I gave
NBME 21 and scored 227 so not much of an improvement. I worked much harder and
reviewed my weak systems and started doing my Incorrects and then gave NBME 15 andscored 237. In End of march I gave NBME 17 I scored 240 and decided to book my date of
April 30. I Started giving new NBMES at every Week, I gave NBME 23 and scored 235 so I
Decided to push my date to 2nd week of May. Unfortunately Corona virus happened and I
was unable to get a booking and centers were closed until further notice. I started my
second pass of Uworld and just waited until centers reopened. I gave a read to Anatomy
Shelf notes and gave NBME 22 and scored 240 in end of May and kept doing Uworld and
saved my assessments. In June I was fortunate enough to qualify for an AMBOSS 3 months
scholarship and was able to practice new questions. I kept doing amboss and gave Uworld
SIM 1 in June and scored 254 which boosted my confidence. I knew my peak was coming so
I changed my region and was fortunate enough to travel to US and booked the test in
Chicago in August. In July I gave my final read of First Aid, while doing new amboss
questions daily and saved NBME 18 and Uworld SIM 2 for last 10 days. Doing amboss really
helped me stay focused as new questions taught new and difficult concepts. I finished
Amboss 3 weeks before my exam and gave a quick read to my weak systems of First aid and
watched a few sketchy videos. I gave NBME 18 14 days out and scored 248 and I Gave UW
SIM 2 7 days out and scored 250. I had booked the free120 at the center which I strongly
recommend, made the experience a bit easier than going for the first time and how the
proceedings happen. Free120 3 days out was 88% and that was it. Last 2 days I tried to relax
and studied only 2-3 hours a day and tried to relax more. Day before I woke up at 5am, gave
a quick read to Pathoma 1-3 and some random DIrtyUSMLE HY videos. Test felt very doable
and very few things felt new as I had done quite a lot of practice questions.
In the end Alhamdulillah I scored 244 and was quite satisfied as my score predictor had
predicted me between 242-252
TAKE AWAY ADVICE:
-QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS AND MORE QUESTIONS
-FOCUS ON WEAK SYSTEMS OF FIRST AID VS READING IT MUTLIPLE TIMES
-PRAY TO ALLAH DAILY
-BREAKS ARE OKAY AND NEEDED + EXERCISE (GYM, WALKS)
-TRY TO GET IT DONE WITHIN MEDICAL SCHOOL TO HAVE ONE LESS THING TO WORRY
ABOUT
-KEEP GIVING PRACTICE TESTS WHILE DOING UW TO GAUGE YOUR PERFORMANCE AND
KEEP LEARNING
FIRST PASS UW: 70%
SECOND PASS: 94%
AMBOSS SINGLE PASS: 77%
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