My Step 1 experience
High yield: Download my supplementary Anki deck here or subscribe on Ankihub here. It includes 53 cards based on First Aid 2023 for distinguishing similar conditions.
I started the Anking Step 1 deck in late August of first year, doing 150-200 new cards daily. I finished all new cards by late January and fully matured the deck by March. I completed UWorld from January to February, averaging 72%. I reviewed incorrect questions but found making Anki cards too time-consuming. A second pass wasn't useful since I remembered most questions and averaged 95%.
UWorld provided deeper understanding and high-quality images missing from Anking, but didn't significantly improve my NBME scores, likely because NBMEs test surface-level content.
| Exam | Date taken | Result |
|---|---|---|
| NBME 25 | 01/2023 | 84% |
| UWorld Form 1 | 02/2023 | 73% |
| NBME 27 | 03/2023 | 86% |
| NBME 29 | 03/2023 | 87% |
| NBME 30 | 03/2023 | 85% |
| NBME 31 | 03/2023 | 81% |
| Free 120 | 03/2023 | 81% |
In the three weeks before the exam, I read through First Aid 2023 and the first three chapters of Pathoma 2021.
I took the test on April 4, 2023. It felt closest to NBME 31 and Free 120—similar difficulty to UWorld but less convoluted. NBMEs 25-30 were less representative. Question stems weren't longer than practice exams, and I finished each block in 40-50 minutes, similar to my NBMEs.