USMLE Step 1 experience with 260 score

Score: 260

I started my preparation in mid June and took a break from my internship and started studying.

STUDY Tools: Kaplan notes and videos except pathology, Goljans +pathoma videos, U world, First aid and Dr Jamal's USMLE notes for review

I started with goljans and finished it in 20days except for few chapters, then I made a schedule to finish each Kaplan subject in at least 2 weeks with videos. I finished my first reading by September 2nd week, then I revised micro, biochem path pharma by 15th October with a lot of breaks ( I think this is the toughest part of your preparation where you doubt your abilities. I was depressed and took a lot of breaks). Then at last I subscribed uw for 3 months. I did it in a slow pace, keeping a target of doing at least 1 block per day. I finished it by dec 22, subject wise and timed.

UWorld helped me a lot with my preparation. I did uw after reading each subject, made notes from it and annotated some points to FA. One of the wise decision that I made during my step 1 preparation is to add pathoma videos to my schedule before doing uw.It expanded my knowledge base and boosted my confidence. 1st round UW aggregate is 84 %. FIRST AID: I only read few topics in FA while reading Kaplan for 1st time as I didn’t know the importance of FA at that time. I think I covered 40% of it, but I didn’t remember a single point from it (my suggestion is to read FA slowly), so technically I started my FA on Jan 1, it took me 12 days to complete systems.

UW 2ND TIME (finished it in 9 days in tutor mode). I was revising each subject in a day and able to clear any doubts that I got while reading the question and referred Kaplan and FA for additional points about that Q... (Which is not possible in timed mode)... # aggregate 96%

SELF ASSESSMENTS: Nbme 6.... 170/200(Jan 6) Nbme 5... 173/200(Jan 17) nbme 11... 258(15 incorrect) on Jan 22 ...32 days before the exam Uwsa 2 .....265+ (17 incorrect) 25 days before exam Nbme 15....260 (16 incorrect) 18days before the exam Nbme 13...260(15 incorrect) 2 weeks before the exam Nbme 7....273(5 incorrect) 1 week before the exam Uwsa 1...... 265+ (11 incorrect)...4 days before the exam (No of correct q * 1.4 formula works out well with nbmes)

One month before the exam: I did all Self assessments, All nbme forms, Genetics bio stats BS embryology from Kaplan q bank, FA 2nd time (I made notes during this period), Pharma Kaplan notes.

One week before exam: I did Dr Jamal's USMLE notes

One day Before exam: Read FA notes, ate my dinner and went to bed at 10 pm. Suddenly I had a panic attack and didn’t sleep until 2 am, then I took a sleep aid Which didn't help either. I thought I would go to exam without any sleep, but I fell asleep at 4am and woke up at 6 am. I hardly slept for 2 hrs. I felt this will affect my result. However rather thinking about it and ruining my exam I thought I must be confident.

EXAM: the real exam is comparable to UW and NBMEs. I was irritated and was not able to concentrate the last few blocks. I got 3 or 4 questions that I have no idea about in my entire exam. Majority or 99% of the questions are from Kaplan UW and FA. 10% are the questions were really long with graphs etc. But time management is not a problem if you have sufficient time while during UW. I took a break for every block.

One thing I wish I would have done was review Dr Jamal's USMLE notes before I started solving question banks. I think this would have saved me time reviewing explanations and would have solved more correct. Once you have more time, you can use it in reviewing other things.

Good Luck to you all