PASSES STEP 1
Tested 27/5 and promised myself I’d make a write-up because reading other people’s experiences on Reddit helped me so much during my preparation.
First, all glory to God. 🙏 I’m a non-US IMG, 2 years post-grad, and I prepared while working full-time as a doctor. It definitely wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.
Practice scores:
Form 25- 70.4
Form 26- 75.8
Form 27- 75.0
Form 28- 77.6
Form 29- 77.8
Done 1 month prior
Form 30- 76.8
Form 31- 80.2
Form 32- 78.8
Form 33- 84.5
Free 120 2024- 85% ( 2 week out)
Free 120 2022- 87.5% (1 week out)
Free 120 2021- 90% (3 days out)
Preparation:
Started active prep in November with about 3 months of dedicated study. Studied 6 hours/ day.
2 Uworld blocks minimum/ day.
Completed 100% UWorld
Resources: First Aid (obviously), Anki( an absolute delight), Boards & Beyond (very very helpful for systems), Sketchy (Micro), Pixorize (Biochem)
Had a study group of 6; we met 4 times a week to review UWorld questions. That was a huge help.
Spent the last month revising and doing questions rather than learning new content.
Exam day:
The exam is long, and despite my practice scores, I was still nervous.
Pace yourself, take your breaks, and trust your preparation. The exam was a little similar to free 120 and form 33. Emphasis on a little. Some questions were repeated. Not word for word, but the concepts and the pictures used were similar.
Biggest lesson:
After the exam, I could recall nearly 30 questions I thought I’d missed, and I was convinced I’d failed. Looking back, many of those mistakes came from overthinking. More often than not, my first instinct was correct.
If you’re preparing for Step 1, trust the process and don’t let post-exam anxiety convince you that you’ve failed.
Congratulations to everyone who’s crossed this hurdle. On to Step 2! If you’re planning to take Step 2 this year, feel free to connect—I’d love to prepare together.