Unfortunately I failed.
But I decide to write because I am pretty confused.
I am a IM/GI foreign graduate
I finished my UW 100% with 57%
Self assessments: 1(206) 2(211)
USMLE demo 87%
I also did the kaplan lectures/videos/books.
Certainly I took so much time 18 months
Meaning according all equivalences available my score should have fallen between 83 and 87. My real score was 74.
Seems there is no way to achieve an approximate value before your real exam

I'm so sorry to hear that..did you do any NBME's? They are usually the most accurate predictors of your score
edited by i.m.possible on 2/17/2011

Well, no. I did not any of them.
The thing is my husband is a pathology resident whom did well in the usmle and he said he felt bad when he did the NBME's, so he told me that it would be better that I feel comfortable before the real exam rather than anxious by doing them. Also, a colleague from my college whom I used to study with, a surgeon resident today, told me that for her UW was enough even when she didn't finish it, she said she start doing one of the NBME exams and considered it useless and she didn't finish them.
That's my sad history, full of advise that didn't work for me. I'm pretty sad and I don't know how to correct my mistakes for the next time.

First off, do an nbme next time. Its not meant to freak you out if done early enough. Your pace of studying changes when you see a bad result...seeing a failing mark on an NBME is less disheartening then seeing it on the real thing, atleast you can improve it. It will tell you where you are weak and you will study harder in those areas...even if that means re-listening to videos, re-doing that kaplan section, while the stuff you are good at you can just skim through FA. So forget what 2 people tell you out of the thousands on the forums that recommend NBMEs. You will see people jump from 195 on NBME to 230s within a matter of weeks just because they assessed themselves. I have yet to give the real exam, but from my prep I will tell you, give NBME 6,7 and there will be no surprises on the real test next time.
In my opinion, 18 months is a very long time and you will forget a lot and procrastinate a lot more. Make a schedule for studying 4-5 months and study 10-12 hours a day consistently and learn concepts. Along with your 1st read do uworld since you have done it already and read the questions carefully of how they train you to think After 1st read, do an NBME and go from there. I would also reccomend during your last month or 2 - do kaplan qbank or usmle rx just to expose yourself to new questions and more practice. Do not be disheartened, you can do it! Aim for a 99 and it will be yours. Good luck and God Bless!
edited by i.m.possible on 2/18/2011

hi adma....sorry to hear that; i will not try to point what you did wrong but i really wanna help you because my situation with step 1 was so similar to yours.....here is my advice:

18 months preparation is way too much; you will have to do it in a very condensed time(4-6 months but studying 10-14 hours a day, 7 days a week); i will give you some tips and it might help you.....forget about what just happend; keep your head up and move forward(i got an 79/195 for step 1 which is not a great score but i knew i have to work extra hard on CK to get a better score)

step 1: pay thh exam fee and choose june/july/august as the period when you wanna take the exam
step 2: go through all kaplan books in maximum 4-6 weeks(do about 1 book per week and don't look at video's anymore)
step 3: after going through kaplan books, do the kaplan qbook(850 questions which can be done in maximum 2 weeks, aka by doing at least 2 tests per day and reading ALL the explanations given for right and wrong questions; again 10-14 hours a day of study)
step 4: buy usmlerx for 1 month; you get 2500+ questions which are not as hard as kaplan qbank or uw qbank but will make you very confortable about how to approach questions; by now you should be able to do 3-4 tests per day because you will see how your procentage of right questions will keep rising comparing to kaplan qbook; in this way you will be able to fill a lot of gaps in your knowledge; 2500+ questions can be done at least one time in less than a month(depending on how much time you still have from your subscribtion, look one more time on your weak areas and do the wrong question)
step 5: buy kaplan qbank for 1 month; you get 2200 questions which should be done at least 2 times in 1 month(you will see how confident you will be and at this time and some of the questions will seem to be ridicuously simple); after going once through all teh questions take an NBME(take form 5 or 6 but not 7).....if you are happy with the score, take the sooner date available on prometric and go to the exam and in mean time take NBME 7; if you don't like the score, buy UW for another month(the only problem with UW is, since you already bought it now, innevitably you will see some questions from your previously subscribtion and that's the reason why i did not sugest you to buy it at step 5-i suggest kaplan); in this month you will just built more and more confidence and getting 100% ready for the real deal; after going once through the uw questions, take NBME 7; i am pretty sure that at this time you will get a decent score(above 200 which will give you enough peace for the real exam); from NBME 7 until exam day do uw questions(second, third view, wrong ones, etc)....ideea is to do something EVERYDAY until the day before exam; at this time you can take the free NBME just to keep you in the shape for the next day: a 75% and above is a good index that you will pass the exam.

if you do what i just wrote above, i am pretty confident that you will get a good score and summer time will be happy time....you might ask why to do so many questions? i did not do so many for step 1 and i burned myself; as many as you do, better it will be on the real exam.....is all about practice, practice, practice.....
i hope my advice will help you.....don't look back and don't regret anything. look forward and try to improve what you did wrong in your first attempt....i wish you gook luck and all the best and in the summer i wanna hear you scream when you will get yor score from usmle....cheers!

Thank you so much anan for all the time you take writing an impressive plan, I appreciate it really.
I already had planned taking the exam in June.
I received my score the day before yesterday. It was today when I could sit and think about how to improve my preparation correcting my previous mistakes.
- Definitively I took toooo much time, I know it.
- I haven't give much to the first aid book, even I had an old one (2000)
- I didn't emphasis my study in my weak areas even when the assessment reports point repetitively the same.
I practiced, I did aprox 4500 Qs but in a period of 8 months? And I really study 12 or 14 hours daily (no quality time, I suppose so, now)
I agree with you. I did UW 2 times. I'll go for Kaplan and Urx this time.
Thank you again.
You will know about me in summertime.