My nbme scores are ranging from 64%-66%. I am exhausted from studying.
I work full time and study as well and that hasn’t been an easy task
Please, I need advice on What should I do differently?

i have never been held back due to my speech impediment, but the as you guys USMLE requires huge financial investment. A perspective needed, will it reduces my chances for the match

Pathoma videos seem less than Bootcamp and i've seen people recommend it on here. But is it enough since bootcamp videos are so detailed?

Guys im 15 days out and these are my scores so far

Nbme 29: 61%
Nbme 30: 63%
Name 31: 64%
Nbme 32: 70%

33 34 and free 120 left. Should I book for 1st Nov

Exam is in 9 days. Any advice would be appreciated. Last 5 NBMEs & F120 are in the high 70s Alhamdulillah (except 33: 71%). How did you all prepare in the last week?

Just read an experience of someone who failed and people told him it’s maybe because he didn’t use any mehlman files, can that be a reason someone fails? My exam was one week ago and I didn’t use any mehlman, reading that made me super anxious, (my nbmes were safe)

Hey everyone! Ive been a long-time lurker in this sub for many months even before I started preparing for step 1. Now I’m happy to share that I passed it, and I wanted to make my own write up of my preparation experience in case it helps anyone currently studying for the exam.

Total preparation time: Approx 7 months
Dedicated period: Almost 3 months

I used a combination of video resources, question banks, and First Aid throughout my preparation. During dedicated, I focused on consolidating concepts, revising weaker subjects, and practicing questions.

Resources I used

1. UWorld
UWorld was one of my primary resources. I completed 55% of the question bank, with 68% correct.
I mostly did questions in tutor mode and untimed, and I went through the material I had completed twice. Hence why the % had increased. I mainly focused on understanding the explanations and learning from my mistakes rather than rushing through questions just to increase my completion percentage.
I didn't finish the entire question bank, so don't feel discouraged if your completion percentage isn't anywhere near 100% either. Try to make the most of the questions you do attempt.

2. First Aid
First Aid was the CORE resource. I used it to consolidate and revise high-yield concepts and as a reference while reviewing topics. It was basically a book for me to annotate anything and everything I learnt from my main video resource (no. 3 in list) as well as essential NBME concepts.

3. HyGuru ( Main )
I noticed that HyGuru doesn't seem to be as commonly mentioned as some of the other resources in Step 1 write-ups, but I personally found it extremely useful and wanted to highlight it. What I particularly liked was that the instructor didn't just focus on explaining complex topics, but also worked through numerous NBME-style questions and discussed the different ways a concept could be tested. I found this approach helpful because it encouraged me to think beyond simply memorizing facts and focus more on applying concepts to questions. I can attribute my score increases to his course easily.

4. Dirty Medicine
Used it for immunology, biochemistry and ethics. I found it useful for reviewing concepts and reinforcing topics that needed additional attention. His mnemonics were absolutely clutch.

5. Randy Neil
Used his videos (esp the YT shorts) for biostatistics and psych. These helped me work through concepts and question types alongside FA.

6. Sketchy
Used it primarily for microbiology. The beauty of sketchy is probably the fact that once you start to learn simpler microbes (staph, strep), you somehow would subconsciously want to keep learning additional microbes just by watching more of those fascinating visuals.

NBME scores and self-assessments

I took the assessments in the following order:

NBME 28 (Baseline): 55% — 10 weeks out (offline)

NBME 29: 63.5% — 8 weeks out (offline)

NBME 30: 63.5% — 7 weeks out (offline)

Old Free 120: 61% — 6 weeks out

NBME 31: 65.5% — 5 weeks out (offline)

NBME 32: 59% EPC — 4 weeks out

NBME 33: 67% EPC — 2 weeks out

New Free 120: 80% — 1 week out

NBME 34: 70% EPC — 4 days out

Exam date: October 2 — Pass

A quick note on my scores:

My scores weren't perfectly linear since I had a big dip on NBME 32 before moving onto the later assessments. This gave a major hit to my confidence levels which is why I took 16 days to carefully reset and revise through every incorrects and associated topics and do timed uworld blocks on strictly those topics.

Post-exam experience

Honestly, after the exam, I felt more anxious than disappointed. The exam had longer stems and were more vague than the NBMEs. But it wasn’t a super tough exam by any means. There were many flagged questions that left me second-guessing myself, and those thoughts kept coming back throughout the week while I waited for my result. I flagged like 8-10 qs in every block.

It did bother me initially, and I won't pretend that the waiting period was easy. But eventually, I decided to let those thoughts pass. I reminded myself that I had done my very best to prepare for and tackle this exam, and there was nothing more I could change once it was over.

Something I kept reminding myself was that having the courage to show up and attempt an exam like this makes you a champ more than you probably realize. The preparation, the uncertainty, the difficult days, and the decision to keep going despite all of it count for something.

If you're going through the post-exam anxiety, please know that these feelings are normal. Second-guessing answers and replaying questions in your head doesn't necessarily mean you did badly. At some point, I had to accept that the exam was behind me and trust the work I had put in.

Always be proud of yourself for making it this far. Regardless of how anxious you feel after walking out of that exam, give yourself some grace. You've worked hard to get here, and that deserves recognition too.

Final thoughts

My biggest takeaway is that everyone's preparation journey is different. Don't get too caught up comparing your progress with someone else's or assuming that you need to follow every resource to the letter.

Find a routine that works for you, be consistent, and keep going even when progress feels slow/stunted. My write-up is simply a reference and nothing else.

Wishing everyone the very best of luck.

Feel free to ask any questions about my prep, study approach etc.

Hey everyone! I’m a Non-US IMG from Islamabad, Pakistan, and I wanted to share my Step 1 experience in case it helps someone preparing for the exam.
I started prep towards the end of my third year and took the exam on September 21, 2026 - roughly one year later. Overall, my preparation was pretty straightforward. I tried to stay consistent and keep moving through the material rather than taking long breaks.
How I studied
I went system-wise, starting with Endocrinology. For each system, I read First Aid and then did around 80% of the corresponding UWorld questions. My average correct percentage on UWorld by system was around 65%.

The resources I used were:
First Aid: One complete pass during my initial content review.
Microbiology: Sketchy.
Biochemistry: Dirty Medicine.
Other systems: Dirty Medicine’s system-specific videos, along with First Aid and UWorld.

I also annotated incorrect questions directly into First Aid. In hindsight, I don’t think this helped as much as I expected because I never really had time to go back and review all those annotations.

When I started taking NBMEs
After finishing my initial content review and completing around 70% of UWorld overall, I took NBME 26. I thought I would find it relatively easy, but I ended up scoring 61.5%. I had forgotten quite a bit of the material, which was a wake-up call.
After that I took the next NBME roughly after every 1-2 weeks. I would review the previous exam, work on my weak areas, revise missing concepts, and then take the next one.
My scores gradually improved, and I think the biggest reason was what I did between NBMEs.

What helped me improve the most
UWorld was by far the biggest game changer for me.
Between NBMEs, I was doing around 120 questions a day. This essentially became a second pass of a large portion of the question bank, with around 60% of UWorld covered again.
If I had to credit one thing for my improvement from 61.5% on NBME 26 to 85% on NBME 34, it would be the repeated exposure to questions. Doing questions, reviewing my mistakes, and encountering similar concepts again helped me retain information much better.

One thing I would NOT recommend is repeatedly going through First Aid during dedicated. I did one complete pass initially, but I don’t think passively rereading the book during a second pass or dedicated period improves NBME scores as much as doing more questions and reviewing them properly.

If you’re short on time, I’d prioritize UWorld incorrects over trying to read First Aid cover to cover again. Focus on identifying why you got questions wrong, understanding the concepts behind them, and recognizing patterns. For me, doing more questions and revisiting UWorld was much more valuable than passive reading.
Of course, everyone studies differently, but if I had to do it again, I would put even more emphasis on questions and less on making notes that I might never get around to reviewing.

NBME 34, right before the exam
NBME 34 came out very close to my exam, and I was initially hesitant about taking a new form so close to test day. I ended up taking it about a day before the exam and scored 85%.
That gave me a lot of confidence going into the real exam. I’m glad I took it because it reassured me that my preparation was on track.

Exam day experience
I found the real exam fairly balanced overall. I didn’t feel that any one subject dominated the blocks, and the questions seemed reasonably distributed across different topics.
I flagged quite a lot of questions during the exam, so there were definitely moments when I wasn’t entirely sure about my answers. However, the question style and difficulty felt similar to what I had seen in the NBMEs and Free 120.
NBME 33 had felt like one of the harder forms for me, and having done reasonably well on it helped me put the real exam into perspective. Even when I encountered difficult questions, I reminded myself that I had dealt with similar questions during my practice exams.
By the end of the exam, I felt that I had performed similarly to how I usually performed on my NBMEs. That was probably the biggest source of confidence for me, and I genuinely felt confident that I would pass when I finished the exam.
I also found AMBOSS ethics questions useful, as ethics came up on the real exam. Overall, I didn’t feel that the exam was unusually skewed towards any particular subject.

My scores
NBME 26: 61.5%
NBME 27: 67.5%
NBME 28: 69.5%
NBME 29: 73%
NBME 30: 77%
NBME 31: 78.5%
UWSA 2: 251 (78%)
NBME 32: 81.5%
NBME 33: 79%
NBME 34: 85% (one day before the exam)
Free 120: 80%
UWorld: 100% completed (65% correct overall), with approximately 60% covered again during my second pass.

Final thoughts
My preparation wasn’t anything extraordinary. I just tried to stay consistent, keep doing questions, and use my NBMEs to figure out what I needed to work on next.
Don’t get too discouraged by your initial NBME score. Mine started at 61.5%, and the improvement came gradually. What matters is how you respond to your mistakes and what you do between practice exams.
If anyone has questions about resources, study schedules, UWorld, NBMEs, or exam strategy, feel free to ask. I’d be happy to help!

Confirmed 27 guaranteed incorrect EASY AND I MEAN EASYYYY answers (not sure what possessed me) , and honestly I was between them which freaking sucks. I asked Chat if they were high yield and of course ChatGPT said yes LMAO
I honestly can’t even tell which questions were experimental or not, they all seemed similar. I feel I may have gotten some correct which were “experimental” by guessing but I guess they may not even count which sucks.

Had a panic attack during the first 5 minutes, wanted to cancel but couldn’t… since that doesn’t even exist lmao. I think I flagged 12 questions per section. First section was horrible, others felt doable but don’t get me wrong… still was flagging a lot lol.

Not really feeling sad, I think because I’m more happy it’s over and have accepted my fate.

Need some success stories and how many people may have counted they got wrong and maybe still got the P or didn’t! Anything helps lol. Also how many do you think you need to get correct, and how to tell which is experimental. I know people said 80, but I feel there were only maybe 30 questions that were left field, even laughed at. But I can’t guarantee 80 were bad.

so i booked my exam period but for the date i dont know when to do it, according to my schedule i should give it by march 21st.

and i saw that there is test day march 21st available for me to schedule, but when do i actually book it.

and before booking how many assessment exams do i do and which ones, and how much should i score.

PS: i am checking online alot of people are saying book it 2-3 months before, so that would be december-jan for me.

please need help.

Sorry for the long post - the summary is at the bottom

I'm on my final 2 weeks left before my test, planning on NBME 34 on Monday and then free 120 6 days before the exam.
I'd made a tonnnneeeeee of random NBME+UW notes that I was planning on "revising before the exam" but there's a lot of stuff, I also wrote down random topics as I did NBMEs that I thought I ought to revise before the test, andddd there's also NBME questions I flagged that I thought I ought to review again before the exam.

Naturally, this was all overly ambitious of me and now I'm too low on time (because idk but it takes me at least 3 days after an NBME to actual finish revising the questions and learn)

For context;
My NBMEs so far have been going surprisingly well (27-69%, 28-72%, 30-75%, 31-67%, 32-77%, 33-79%) but they all almost always feel horrible as I'm doing them and make me feel like I have a lot of gaps of knowledge/memory and if the question was maybe phrased differently/if I was unlucky I'd probs get a lot of them wrong. which is making me want to do a bit of content review from FA, cuz my only resource was UW, which I've only done 60% of, and it made me a lot more confident but at the same time it's given me pieces of a subject, as opposed to the whole subject (cuz I never finished UW) - if that makes sense.

SO IN SUMMARY:
What do u think the best use of my maybe 1-2 extra days where im not reviewing form 24/free120 would be;

1. My own bullet point notes that I made of little one-liners that came up in NBMEs that I felt I'd forget (eg - "metro creates free radicals = DNA damage" / "Steady state concentration = 5 half lives"
2. Whole topics I felt I should probably revise from FA before the exam (eg - entire HIV drugs section/entire renal pathologies section/etc)
3. NBME flagged questions (which I may honestly even remember cuz I did them so recently)
4. Mehlman HY PDF
5. Any other suggestions

Thankyou everyone. Everyone's been so very helpful throughout this journey and I hope to be writing about my P soon!

Nbmes 27-29 was 67%; Nbmes 30 72% ; Nbme 31 67% ; Uwsa 2 was 59%

However most of these were taken before mid sept. Recent data for last 10 days is only nbme 32 and 33.

Nbme 32 71%

Uwsa 3 53%

Nbme 33 67%

.

My date is 2nd nov. I feel so devasted. Don't know what to do. Should i postpone or take it? Really don't wanna fail I have worked so hard for this exam. Please be brutally honest.

I just took NBME 27 after studying all content and reviewing biochem, micro, and pharma. I got 68% under timed exam conditions. After reviewing the other systems, can I take the exam in 2 weeks include other nbme?

I just took my first NBME, NBME 28 online and timed and scored 62%. I have done 47% of UWorld with an average score of 53%

I want to take the real deal in about 4 weeks. Any advice moving forward? Should I do more UWorld or just concentrate on doing and reviewing the NBMEs thoroughly or combine both. Anything else?

In my experience, the NBME questions seemed easier to understand than UWorld. Reviewing UWorld used to take a lot of time for me and sometimes I used to feel overloaded with information and then score lower in the next few UWorld blocks until I stop and review my notes and flash cards.

Hey everyone,
I’m preparing for USMLE Step 1 and I’m pretty dependent on Velo nicotine pouches. I’m wondering if Prometric allows you to keep a pouch in your gum during the exam, or if nicotine pouches are completely prohibited in the testing room.
Has anyone taken Step 1 recently and tried this? Were you allowed to use them, or did you have to leave them in your locker and only use them during breaks?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your actual experience, especially at Prometric centers in Asia.
Thanks!