Unlike sitting in a coffee shop, casually discussing Step 1 principles with your friends, deliberate practice is not fun.
#How to calculate usmle step 1 scores how to#
How to Study for the USMLE Step 1 Like a Chess Grandmaster To succeed with a limited time frame and numerous other extracurricular commitments, we need to focus, prioritize, and use that time wisely. The number of hours you study can only get you so far. You can’t simply lock yourself away for a few years to focus on a single medical licensing exam. Many of you are familiar with the 10,000-hour rule (made infamous by Malcolm Gladwell). Poor study habits like multitasking, social studying, and a distracting environment sabotage your memory faster than you can improve it. Preparing to master so many different areas, and being forced to recall and apply them quickly – under pressure – is challenging.īut it’s even more challenging when your preparation is misspent. Especially because you only get about one minute per question. And the prospect of regurgitating everything during a single, 8-hour day is daunting. The difficulty of this medical licensing exam comes down to the sheer breadth and volume of information. The goal of USMLE Step 1 is to evaluate a med student’s ability to apply key concepts and fundamentals to medical practice.īy the time you take it, the material isn’t necessarily new. The Most Common Reasons for Low USMLE Step 1 Scores
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Here’s what med students like you might be doing when you study for Step 1, and what you should be doing instead. A low passing score can be just as damaging as failing outright.Īnd unfortunately, in most cases, medical students are their own worst enemy, because the most common reasons for poor performance and low memory recall on exam day are self-inflicted. So you have to make the most of your Step 1 opportunity. You can’t retake the step component to simply improve your score. If you have any hopes of going into a competitive specialty or the field of your choice, then you need to pass the USMLE Step 1 with flying colors. For most medical students, simply passing the USMLE Step 1 isn’t good enough. Until the new scoring system takes place in January 2022, there will still be a numeric score for Step 1 (and the numeric score will remain for Step 2) that will factor into residency “match” decisions. The Federation of State Medical Boards and the National Board of Medical Examiners recently announced that the United States Medical Licensing Exam will be pass/fail for Step 1. Most med students pass USMLE Step 1 and COMLEX