Hey everyone! I took Step 1 about a month ago and received my results a while back. I wanted to share my experience and give back to this community, which helped me so much throughout my preparation.
One of the biggest sources of anxiety during prep is NBME scores, so I wanted to reassure those of you who are constantly wondering whether you need to score in the 70s to pass. Consistently scoring in the 70s can certainly provide a more comfortable margin of safety, but you don’t necessarily need to score in the 70s to pass Step 1. My scores were mostly in the mid 60s, and I passed!

03/07/2026 — NBME 25: 61%
29/07/2026 — NBME 26: 61.5%
12/08/2026 — NBME 27: 65%
22/08/2026 — NBME 28: 64%
30/08/2026 — NBME 29: 58% (This score really threw me off. I made so many silly mistakes and was honestly dumbfounded by the result.)
07/09/2026 — NBME 30: 67.5%
12/09/2026 — NBME 31: 61% (I was really burnt out by this point. I could genuinely feel my brain refusing to work.)
15/09/2026 — NBME 32: 68%
18/09/2026 — NBME 33: 66%
21/09/2026 — New Free 120: 65% (The interface felt so different! While taking it, I was convinced I was going to score really badly, lol.)

What did the actual exam feel like?
One thing I really want to emphasize is that the questions on exam day didn’t feel completely alien or unfamiliar. I could identify only around two questions that I suspected might have been experimental. Most of the questions felt like they tested concepts I had already studied.

In my experience, the exam felt like a combination of NBMEs and Free 120. The underlying concepts were mostly familiar and NBME style, but the questions were often worded more vaguely or indirectly, somewhat like Free 120. Understanding the concepts and applying them was much more important than simply memorizing facts.

My advice
If your scores are hovering around the mid-60s, please don’t automatically assume that you cannot pass. At the same time, don’t use my experience as a reason to ignore your own readiness, weaknesses, or practice test trends. Review your mistakes carefully, work on your weak areas, and be honest with yourself about your preparation.
This journey can be incredibly stressful, especially when one disappointing score makes you question everything you’ve studied. I know how that feels.
You don’t have to be perfect to pass. Keep going, keep learning from your mistakes, and try not to let every practice score define your confidence. ❤️
Feel free to ask me anything about my preparation or exam experience. I’ll do my best to help!
Wishing everyone the very best. You’ve got this! ❤️

Just sat for step today and lowkey feel like crap LMAO, but thought I would share some tips:

1. Micro micro micro - there was honestly so much micro and while some was very straight forward you definitely should have it down very well because it was like easily 35% of my exam

2. Pharm you definitely have to know BASIC mechanism, none of the answer choices are the drug name itsefl, also know illict drugs mechanisms and how they present

3. Felt like I had like multiple question on skin stuff in relation to like micro or like allergic stuff and immuno so definitely just be familiar with some of the common dermatologic presentations

4. Had no biostats and like maybe 8 biochem questions - super low yield

5. Not a lot of arrow questions and straight physio questions, which might have just been my form

6. I feel like immuno/basic biological principles relating to cancer, etc were big so def be good on pathoma 1-6, and then know like the hypersensitivies, had a ton on that

Biostats is a small slice of Step 1 that feels wildly overrepresented on test day, and it's the most "learnable in a weekend" topic on the exam. How are you drilling it, and is it working?

Hi! So I just took step today and I feel like I didn’t do so good. The questions were so vague and SO much longer than most of the study material out there. Also, since all of the study material is with the old 40 Qs per block, I never really practiced 30 minute blocks until the Free 120 which left me feeling so confused with the time and made me run out of time in most of the blocks 😭 Looking back, I basically just feel like I just blacked out and went on auto pilot and I’m just hoping that I didn’t F** this up for myself after so much hard work.

Now I’m also extra anxious because Idk how much I have to wait for my score to come out since I’ve heard that people that take exams after Wednesdays have to wait an extra week for their score to come out. Is that true? Like should my score come out on November 4th or on the 11th?

So I finished first pass uworld . I have about 1600 incorrect questions because my study time for step one was over one year so I forgot a lot of stuff because I used to work a full-time job unfortunately. Now that I finished the first pass of Uworld .I don’t know what and how to start prep for the exam . I wanted to do an nmbe first to see my weak points . My question is how long should 1 Nmbe exam take me . And should I do all the nmbes first or start with incorrect uworld .I am so stressed I wanted to take the exam in December but my first pass with that amount of incorrect is discouraging me . So what should I do now ?
I am an old IMG so sorry for the clueless post 🙏

My Step 1 eligibility period ends on October 31, and I’ve already used my one time extension. My NBMEs are still in the mid-50s, so I’m planning to cancel rather than risk failing.
Has anyone been through this recently?
Do I need to submit a new Step 1 application and pay the ~$1,000 fee before my current triad ends, or can I cancel now and reapply anytime later?
Also, will I have to repeat the notarization and credential verification through MyIntealth, or just pay the exam fee again?
Would really appreciate any guidance!

got my result today and I got the P!!!! honestly i dont know how useful this will be but i was reading this sub basically every night for the last 2 months so maybe it helps someone

IMG, not a top student or anything. my basics were not horrible but also not strong. I had a lot of things i forgot from med school and especially pharm/biochem was rough at first

i did about 7 weeks dedicated. maybe little more depending what you count

my main resources were uworld and mdsteps. i used both a lot but not really for the same thing

uworld was better for me when i actually didnt know something. like if i got a renal question wrong and had no idea why, or some pharm mechanism i forgot completely, then uworld explanation + sometimes FA was usually enough. early dedicated i was doing more uworld because i had more actual content gaps

mdsteps i started doing more later because I would get questions wrong and then when i reviewed them i was like wtf i knew this. not every question obviously but a lot

usually i would get it down to 2 and choose wrong, or one detail in the question would make me change my mind, or i would overthink something that was actually simple. also changing answers was a huge problem for me

so mdsteps helped more with that. more like why did i make that choice vs just learning the disease again

some of their questions are hard though, like really hard sometimes. I definitely had some blocks where my score was terrible and i thought this was not helping at all lol. but after a while i stopped caring so much about the % because i was seeing the same mistakes over and over

uworld for content, mdsteps more for reasoning i guess. thats how i used them anyway

other resources were nothing special

FA just when i needed it. I did not read the whole thing

pathoma, mostly 1-3 and some systems again

sketchy micro/pharm

anking but not much. I tried doing tons of anki in the beginning and it was too much with questions. i ended up mostly doing cards for stuff i was actually missing

my scores were something like

26 - 62
27 - 64
28 - 66
30 - 69
31 - 72
free 120 - 73

i dont remember if every one is exact but around there

the first few weeks were honestly frustrating because i thought if i study more my score should go up faster and it didnt

I was doing that thing where every wrong question i would go read everything about the topic again. sometimes that was useful, but sometimes i already knew the topic and i just answered the question badly

that took me too long to figure out

later my day was usually one 40q block, review it, sometimes another 20-40. some days uworld, some days mdsteps, sometimes both. i stopped making these crazy schedules because i was never following them anyway

probably 7 or 8 good hours most days. some days less. I dont know how people do 12 productive hours because after a certain point im reading and nothing is going in

exam itself was weird but not as impossible as i expected. some questions very straightforward and then some were like what are you even asking me

felt more nbme/free120 than qbank style

I marked a lot, maybe 10 each block average. one block more than that

I also forced myself to not change answers unless i had a real reason because during practice i was changing correct to wrong constantly

after the exam i actually felt okay for a few hours then of course started remembering all the stupid questions i missed. by like second day i was sure i failed

anyway passed

my main advice is probably dont keep adding resources because you are anxious. I did that and it just made my studying worse

if you get something wrong ask why

sometimes you didnt know it

sometimes you knew it and still made a bad choice

for me those needed different things. uworld helped the first one, mdsteps helped more with the second one

thats basically it

good luck everyone studying, you can feel completely terrible and still pass

Step 1 Exam in 50 days and I have 4 systems not covered at all

Hematology, Neurology, Nephrology, Respiratory

not mentioning the loads i have to revise and the NBMEs

My basics are not strong💀

Any advice?

I got my CBSE scores back they weren't great for my score report I saw someone on here using Ai to establish a baseline of areas to improve and topics to go over does anyone know how to do that or something to recommend to improve my score would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you guys for all your reflections, experiences, and opinions about Step 1. They have been so helpful!

US IMG, graduate in June 2027. Will complete Step 1/Step 2 within the next 12 months.

My current schedule allows me to complete ~400 questions a week UWORLD + study the explanations. I should finish in 9-10 weeks.

My scores are starting off low (expected), but after reaching about 20% completion, I'm noticing that certain things are starting to stick: key words, disease presentations, pathognnomic details, etc. Also there are certain categories where I perform below average, others where i am above and score closer to 70-75%.

So, when I reach 100% completion on UWORLD, what would be the best use of time from there on out? I was thinking to go back and write a brief 1-2 line note for all 3,600 questions, creating a sort of high yield UWORLD study guide. Or should I move on to another resource like First Aid, Pathoma, Sketchy micro etc? Even though I'm studying each completed question, after ~1,500 errors at the end, there will be plenty of things to go back and refresh.

I guess what I'm getting down to is this - do you think I should really study UWORLD, almost to the point of memorization, where I score between 80-100% each time? I feel like this could be beneficial, but I could spend several months just reviewing UWORLD this way.

Particularly interested in the opinions of people who have done the real deal. Thank you!

Hello im pretty stuck rn my nbme scores are as
Nbme 26 57
Nbme 27 63
Nbme 29 65
Nbme 30 69
Nbme 31 71
Nbme 32 69
Nbme 34 70
Im j left w 33 and f120 what do you guys suggest shall i take it in 10 days or stop as im being v down and im so sick of it rn

Hey guys,
My exam is in 7 days and I have been scoring in high 70s in all nbmes.
Im yet to give free 120 but i scheduled my exma already but i keep having the fear that it might be aomething completely different very tough and something which i wont be able to answer at all despite having decent nbme score
I didnt do my nbmes in full testing condition although i usually used to finish my 20q block under 30mins most of the times
But my breaks sometimes would be more than 5 minutes as i didnt have ideal situation to have it in strictt time.
However I think im not that bad with time management but still so so worried. Can someone help relieve this worry man im so stressed that god forbid what If i dont pass🥲🥲😭

EDIT - the previous post got removed as this community doesnt allow links to be posted , if yall know any alternate way i can share it,do let me know,putting this post again as a lot of y'all requested to repost it since it got removed

Got my Results today and Alhamdulillah Passed Step 1 by God's Grace,

I'm Very happy to finally write my very own reddit post,

I have read so many reddit posts which helped me make my study strategy and also helped me navigate through step 1 and it's time I finally write mine and give it back to the people

Ill try to be short and precise in what I write so that it helps u and also doesn't confuse y'all and waste your time

But the basic rule is KEEP IT SIMPLE ,Don't overcomplicate things

STUDY MATERIAL

The holy triad of passing step 1 is

FA + U World + Nbme/Free 120

And use it with Chat GPT Or gemini to review the above stuff and simplify the concepts

I didn't use boards and beyond videos except for some neuro videos as I feel by basics were strong and i felt I was wasting my time by watching videos ,but if u are weak in your basics I would recommend watching them

I didn't use Anki at all as it was just not something I could do daily is what I felt,also didn't Do DIP,and mehlman used it only for one subject but if you are weak in neuro use neuroanatomy pdf as it is very good and also immunology pdf is also pretty nice ,but I didn't use them

Also Bnb And bootcamp for genetics is a must ,they help u understand complicated terms

Also my paper was very Ethics heavy like very heavy

So do that thoroughly 3-4 ethics qs per block ,I found a random Ethics pdf on reddit and omg it was super super helpful for me in understanding the important concepts and ethical scenarios

Anything apart from these three i mentioned is an add on to your knowledge and u can use it to supplement your content

And u can use it as a support or to supplement your weaker systems and make them stronger

But u have to use the above 3 things as the main study skeleton and Use AI like Gemini or Chatgpt to review the qs if u don't understand as Ai can simplify it very easily

DURATION

I started in late jan early Feb

And studied for 7-8 months with a full time House job and limited study hours with 4-5 months predicated and 1-2 months dedicated

I was going through a very low and rough patch in my life and I knew this exam was the one that would help me gain my long lost confidence and get myself up from this academic slump I was going through ,it was kind of me coming back from a period of consistent downfall

I studied dedicatedly and Felt somewhat ready by 6 months but went through severe burnout , and some depressive episodes so took an additional month and a half to feel better mentally

Tried to be consistent for most of the days and also made sure not to give up on the little social life I had ,went out ,met family friends ,some physical activity too ,the exam is doable with all this too dont let anyone else pull u down or make u think otherwise

STUDY METHOD

Coming to the Method and materials it was purely FA AND U WORLD and Gemini or Chat GPT

I am not the kind of person who can do questions on and on

So I decided that I'll do 50% qs of each system and move on ,i struggled to finish a complete pass of u world , so I couldn't even imagine to do two passes

I kept it simple do 50%- 60% so so well that u don't have to revisit that question logic again and I did that and wrote down the important points in FA so that when I revise I would remember ,didn't annotate a lot just the basic concept and differentiator,ended up doing 45% of Uworld ,ss attached up ,but made sure to read and understood full U world explanations and also why the right answer was right and the wrong was wrong

And when would the wrong answer be right ,used AI for all this

Did it on tutor mode as it helped me and did system wise only as I liked to understand one system to its fullest and not jumble things up

U can use whatever works for u

But i was doing only tutor mode and system wise till the end

And solved 10-20 qs daily of one system only not much and reviewed them properly so i picked one system for the day did 10-15 qs and revised that system

I didn't over burden myself

Also did Randy neil for biostats

Watched sketchy for micro out of Fomo and it was helpful too but revising micro again and again is more important

And Pathoma 1 st 3 chapters are Super Super High Yield

Finished 45% by 4 months

Gave my first nbme and from then on tried revising things in between by the same 10-15 qs and system each time

I am a book guy i understand more by reading and revising

Unlike people who tend to do more qs ,it's the opposite for me so I kept doing that and since I annotated u FA from u world i was basically revising the concepts only

Dont worry if u get bad scores in U World ,it a process and trust the process

Once u are done with 70-80% of portion/systems

Things will start coming together and u will start understanding everything little by little

So nbme analysis would take me a good 4-5 days used AI with it

I used to do nbme analysis to the depth and made sure I mark every important points or topics in first aid that showed in my nbme

Gave nbme 29,31,32 ,33 and

34 came out just before my exam

So didn't give it but just scanned through the questions and its topics from FA

NBME

My NBME scores were

29 -69.5 gave on 22 July

31 - 79.5 Gave on 20 august

32- 77. Gave on 30 August

33 -79 Gave it on 9 sept

34- couldn't give as it came right before my exam

After 33 fatigue and burnout and depressive episodes started to kick in ,but I had made 2-3 very good buddies in my journey who always motivated me and pushed me to the limit and out of that low phase mindset I'm grateful to them ,

So started again but my triad was about to expire ,paid the extension fee and booked the date immediately

Booking the date was the best thing because it gave me the final boost my mind wanted and then i pushed my self very hard

The only mistake that i made and i regret is not doing FREE 120 early

It sounds absurd but I gave free 120 one day before the exam date ,yes one day before

I know it was very very stupid but idk why did I delay it that much,I was under immense pressure while giving it one day before

Under that immense pressure flunked super hard and got a score drop

And got a 72-73 on Free 120

It made me super scared because of the massive drop

I didn't know what was going on in the first block of free 120 but anyways after the f120 ,I calculated my score and

I took it positively thinking

That if under this pressure my score fell then it means tomorrow on the exam day

If I feel pressurised then the score will fall like the free 120, it still would be above the passing percentage so all I have to do is calm my nerves and not mess up the hard work I had put in till now

So took it constructively and moved on

Last minute thing

One day before the exam apart from giving and going through F120 ,and previous 2-3 NBME quickly ,I revised the HY images pdf and it was super super useful ,Highly recommend u to do it ,it's the best 1-2 hours you'll spend one day before the exam

And slept for 4 hours as I had become a night owl during prep so couldn't adjust my sleep schedule before the exam

And EXAM DAY ARRIVED

Left everything on God,Walked in the exam ,calmed my nerves ,went in stress free because I knew more than the prep it's the mindset that will matter

First two blocks crushed me ,i didn't know what was happening took a break after first two blocks ,I knew such things had happened to people before me as I had read reddit reviews so calmed my self had a protein bar ,went back inside and gave the exam with a new mindset again

flagged 7-8 questions per block unsure about 4-5 qs per block so 12-13 qs didn't know what was going on and was sure about 6-7 questions per block that I got it right as they had 2-3 ethics question and i had done ethics well

I had done some calculation before the exam as i knew roughly 80 were experimental so even if blocks were tough I knew I had to get the easy ones right and maths would do the rest and get me over the line

There were questions I had no clue about at all so u just mark and moved on ,still the question stems being so long had to struggle to really finish some blocks last minute by just glancing and marking but didn't leave any questions unanswered

Made sure to take a break after every 2 blocks of 20 questions

Had taken some chicken salad and protein bar with me so had that in between breaks

My mindset was taking one block at a time ,and resetting the mentality after every block ,

some blocks in the middle were very easy

But the remaining ones were moderate and question stems varied from very long to short ones too

But overall they were long stems u spend a lot of time reading those long questions so work on your reading skills

One approach that helped me was reading the last 2-3 lines and finding key words in the patient's work up

Exam felt like Free 120 and since I gave it one day before the exam i remembered the concepts which showed up

POST EXAM STRESS

My reaction after exam was idk what happened ,I felt like I failed ,as I made very very silly mistakes which I shouldn't have made and realised them right in between my breaks ,but I didn't check anything in my breaks just eat and relax and walk or use the washroom

And I knew if I ever pass it would be due to ethics and some biostats because there were so many questions in my exam

Anyways moved on ,next day or two tried reconstructuring

the paper and realised it was useless as I didn't know what was experimental and some very hard questions and vague questions that it was impossible to remember them , I didn't know what was the question and what were they even asking

Tried calculating the corrects and wrongs from memory but it actually just increases your anxiety ,I felt like I became a full blown mathematician for 2 days and ultimately decided to give up and just waited as i couldn't do anything

The wait made me anxious My friend suggested me to distract my mind so joined a community helping clinic and did service there for 10 days post exam and all also prayed a lot

The anxiety post exam really killed me it was awful

2-3 days before the expected result day started feeling anxious with bad dreams but all I did was pray and ask God to please help me through

The result came today and I PASSED, Alhamdulillah

SUMMARY

For someone who didn't read the entire thing

The exam is just about

FA+ U World + Nbme/Free 120 and Using Ai to analyse

And Revise and Writing down the concepts u missed in FA or some book or will forget and again revise them

Do the Nbme and Free 120 analysis thoroughly even before the exam they are super super high yield and important

They are most tested concepts

Do HY Images pdf

And don't let anyone else pull u down your mindset matters a lot on exam day

U don't have to do a lot

U just have to do the same thing over and over again

Special mentions

To Pathoma chapter 1-3

Randy Neil Biostats

Sketchy Micro

And random Ethics pdf on reddit ,it helped me a lot in understanding ethics

Melhman for the selected HY points which I added to my FA but I didn't read melhman pdf completely

And the support system of a couple of friends who always motivated me

Lastly believe in yourself

You will get depressed and will fall ,you will get burnout but it's important for u to rise and get done with this exam

If u want any guidance or help feel free to reach out to me I will try to help u as much as I can and guide u if u want

And also you can ask me your doubts and we can create a small chat of interested people who want some guidance and can help and motivate each other

Now moving on to Step 2 Finally ❤️ Alhamdulillah

I’ve been feeling pretty burnt out these few days but only 17 days till my exam 😭 wish I could prepone but my flights are fixed now, what would you guys recommend to get my scores up and maintain a reasonable study schedule? Last 2 nbmes were in 70-75 range, free 120 is left

Hello guys

So I've attached my previous post here

İ took the nbme 24 just to see where I am and got 53%

I'm at 40%uw with 53%corrects

İ have a few questions

How do i do a detailed nbme review? Should i use anki, google doc, or written?

When should i take me next nbme? I'm planning to take the real deal in dec ?

When should i book the triad? (I'm still waiting for the certification on intealth)

Really appreciate your help 🙏🙏

My exam is in 3 weeks and I'm so scared thinking what if I fail. My nbmes are within 70s but I feel I know nothing and I'm mostly making guesses or eliminating options or recognising buzzwords.

Hello, I need advice right now because I am really panicking.

I scheduled my STEP1 exam for Dec 17, but when I took a diagnostic NBME last week I scored 37%! I know I have so many gaps with biochem, immuno, micro, and sometimes I just go through the exam and have no idea what it's even saying.

I thought about rescheduling, but right now I have no options to reschedule as there are no available test dates within my test permit open in my city. I am at a loss of what to do and I am stressed that this is going to be a total waste of money :(

Thank you all so much for your advice because it is much needed.

Hi guys! I am new to reddit but I am currently a second year in a US DO program. I want to take my step in the first 2 weeks of March with my dedicated starting in the beginning of February. I finished MSK, biochem, rhem/derm, neuro and cardio first year. I currently have completed heme-onc, pulm, renal, and endocrine with repro and GI left. I have access to bootcamp, UWorld, and Amboss! How do you reccomend studying and doing my content review in pre-dedicated. My main struggle is anki cause I heavily use it for my in house so I am doing around 800-1000 cards per day. The Anking deck has thousands of cards per system so I tried keeping up with it but found it really overwhelming. Any suggestions for how I should study and how to implement Anking. Thank you!

​

​Hey guys,

​Testing in 10 days and imposter syndrome is hitting hard.

​My scores so far:

​NBME 28: 66%

​NBME 29: 67%

​NBME 30: 72%

​NBME 31: 80% (still feels like a fluke)

​NBME 32: 70%

​NBME 33: 72%

Gave all in strict time mode exam condition except the first one

​Left to take: NBME 34 & New Free 120.

​On paper I know these look safe, but during the actual forms I feel like I'm coin-flipping 12–15 questions per block and just getting lucky on the 50/50s.

​A few quick questions for recent test-takers:

​Did anyone else feel like they were guessing half the test and still pass comfortably?

​How should I space out NBME 34 and Free 120 over the next 10–12 days without frying my brain?

And most importantly ​what moved the needle most in your final week? FA revision? NBME filtered topics? NBME filtered questions and concepts?

How I Passed Step 1 on My First Attempt (Exam Date: Oct 5)
I passed today, and I want to share what worked. This is my own experience, so take what's useful.

February to March: Starting at the Bottom
I started dedicated study in February and scored 32% on form 26. I expected it, because I started at the bottom for the MCAT too. I was told to do 80 questions a day, and I did that for a month, but I didn't retain much. After a month I was at 42% on form 27.
I decided my problem was content, so I switched to 40 UWorld questions a day plus content review for the rest of the day. I later realized I was doing that wrong too, and I was stuck at 48% by the end of March.
Many of my peers had already taken the exam and passed, and that got to me for a bit. Then I decided I was running my own race and wasn't competing with anyone. I delayed my rotations, which most people start in April.
April to May: Slow Progress
I went from 52% to 54% by the end of May. Improvement was painfully slow, but I stopped caring. I've never been the smartest or fastest learner, but I have endurance and mindset, and I knew I'd get there eventually.
June to August: The Key Change
My goal was the 60s, but I was stuck. So I asked myself what was tripping me up most. The answer was that I couldn't differentiate between similar pathologies, like placental abruption vs. accreta vs. previa, or measles vs. rubella vs. mumps.
I had been using the AnKing deck the whole time. What changed was that I started making my own cards with AI:
After missing a question (say, on breast pathology), I stopped unsuspending AnKing cards.
I asked the AI how Step might test that concept differently and what other pathologies they might use to trick me.
I had it build a high-yield clinical differentiator table.
I screenshotted the table and used image occlusion on multiple rows.
This way I was constantly seeing the differentiating details Step cares about. I did this consistently for every NBME and UWorld question I reviewed, and I hit a 60% by the end of July.
The second realization: I had taken forms 26 to 30 months earlier and never reviewed them properly. I had been so focused on finishing questions and Anki that I set them aside. When I redid forms 26 to 33 and actually reviewed them, I found that concepts repeat constantly. Form 26 might ask about rubella and form 27 about measles, so a deep review of 26 helps you get the next one right.
If you start this Anki + AI differentiator method from your very first NBME and take your time with review, the process will be much faster than it was for me. It seems simple, but it took me months to figure out.
September: Final Stretch
I scored 65% and 65% on my last redos, then 63% on the free 120 in the third week of September. I planned to test the first week of October. My tutor told me I was ready: I knew the content after eight months, and what remained was test-taking and pacing.
Then form 34 came out, I took it in the last week, and I got a 61%. I freaked out, cried, and had a rough episode. I called my support system, and they reminded me how far I'd come. I had a 63% on the free 120, a 97% on the AMBOSS SA, and two 65% scores on retakes of NBMEs I hadn't revised. I had proof I knew the content, so I treated the 61% as a chance to catch last-minute details.
Test Day (Oct 5)
I prayed throughout this process and asked for peace on test day, and I felt calm instead of anxious. Take the free 120 at the testing center if you can. It helps you control the controllables. I walked out thinking it was a 50/50, and the exam felt like a mix of the free 120 and form 32. Today I got the P.
Takeaways
Do a deep review of every NBME, including early ones, because concepts repeat.
Build differentiator tables with AI and add them to Anki with image occlusion.
If something isn't working, change it.
Mindset is huge. Pray, study hard, and trust yourself.

From you’re fellow 500 MCAT scorer to 1st time Step passer

Happy to answer any questions.

Took my first NBME 25- 42% for a baseline 2-3 weeks ago when i only had like 2 systems left in my first pass of FA+ uworld.

im done with the first pass now and have yet to solidify my memory since i grazed thru it in my first pass and spent way too long on it, so much so that i remember nothing from the systems i started with cause it was so long ago.

please help
should i start doing random on timed mode now? (only done system wise tutor till now) or get back on my concepts from FA and what not and then do the questions once i remember more, or just keep going at it together side by side, but idk if that'd make sense since my baseline isnt strong and it'd be an extra burden to do it in random.

i also have my block from dec-feb and absolutely cannot delay it so i HAVE TO get it done.
when should i take my next nbme and how do i go forward im so confused please help

ik it can be done and people here have done the whole thing in 3 months, i just need some guidance from you guys and to know the do's and dont's because im so lost rn idk where to start.

i think my main question would be is it wise to just go through FA right now and really solidify the stuff there before doing questions ?

My retake exam is scheduled for 10/28 and my eligibility period ends 10/31. I do not want to risk my retake as I still have a decent amount left on my to do list so want to push back my exam 1-2 weeks. Do I cancel the 10/28 appointment first and then pay for the eligibility extension on FSMB or vice versa?

Just to clarify, I’m not posting this to scare anyone who hasn’t taken the exam yet. Everyone gets a different form, and I might have gotten a harder one. Or maybe I was just mentally exhausted that day, even though I slept well the night before. I honestly don’t know, I’m just trying to see if anyone had a similar experience.

I took Step 1 after finishing all the NBMEs (even the old ones) and UWSAs. My scores went from 66–68% to 79.5% in nbme 34.
But the real exam felt so much harder. A lot of questions required 2nd/3rd order thinking, and even when the questions felt familiar, the answer choices were tricky. I also felt like my concentration was worse than usual and that's what terrifies me.
What bothers me the most is that I made mistakes on easy questions I normally wouldn’t miss. Even micro, which is usually one of my stronger subjects, had me stuck between two options on simple recall questions.
I answered everything, but I genuinely felt like I wasn’t performing at my usual NBME level. The exam was exhausting, and I feel like I lost easy points on an already difficult form.

Has anyone had good NBME scores, felt like they underperformed on the real exam, especially on many easy questions that exsit in FA just needs to remember , and still passed?
I know feeling terrible after Step 1 is common, but knowing I made mistakes on things I should’ve known is what’s really stressing me out.