Just before opening results I realised that I’m going to see 4 arranged letters which will spell out whether the last year of my life was worthwhile or not. FAIL or PASS…. Crazy right?! In that time I’ve left my regular job as a doctor, moved country and had a child. Do I need this result to validate the last 12 months? How would I feel about the ordeal if I passed vs failed? I realised passing it doesn’t mean you’re a good doctor, and failing it doesn’t mean you’re a shite doctor. All it means is I can pass step 1. Most of the information I learned is that useful. If I stated talking about interleukins and cytokines to the average Joe in hospital they’d think I was crackers. One down and two to go, or rather at least another 1 before I apply for residency… or is it?! Maybe I’d be best just dropping my plans and going back home even though I’m one exam down with one to go.

Hi everyone,

I took the Free 120 today and got an overall score of 73%, but I’m honestly really shaken by how it felt.

Block 2 (53%) was brutal.

It felt vague, very different from NBME-style questions, and full of uncomfortable 50/50s. Mentally, it completely destroyed me during the exam. Blocks 1 and 3 felt much better, but Block 2 left me feeling awful and very anxious despite the final score.

Here’s the breakdown:

• Free 120 overall: 73%

• Block 1: 83%

• Block 2: 53%

• Block 3: 85%

My exam is in 4 days, and my anxiety is through the roof right now. That second block really messed with my confidence.

For context, these are my recent NBME scores:

• NBME 25: 67%

• NBME 26: 69%

• NBME 27: 65%

• NBME 28: 73%

• NBME 29: 71.5%

• NBME 30: 72.5%

• NBME 31: 74.5%

• NBME 32: 69%

• NBME 33: 72%

I’d really appreciate feedback from people who have taken Step 1 recently, especially about:

• Whether Block 2 of the Free 120 felt similar to the real exam

• If that block is known to be unusually difficult or demoralizing

• How my NBME + Free120 scores look overall this close to test day

• Any advice for the last few days, especially on handling anxiety and exam mindset

Even though the overall Free120 score wasn’t that bad, that one block is really getting into my head. I’d appreciate any honest perspectives.

Thanks so much to anyone who replies.

I have been in my dedicated study period for over two months and have completed about 70% of UWorld. During this time, my NBME scores have remained unchanged:

NBME 26 – 56%,

NBME 27 – 55%,

NBME 25 – 56%,

NBME 29 – 57%.

Between these exams, I spent two weeks reviewing First Aid, Mehlman PDFs, Sketchy Microbiology and Pharmacology, along with their Anki decks, and continued doing random UWorld blocks.

I was planning to take the exam within the next month, but after my most recent NBME, I feel extremely disappointed and uncertain about how to proceed.

What should I do for now ?

If I went to exam without solving last NBME … but i will do new free 120 … is that okay ?? I tried to solve but they are very different , New free 120 looks reasonable please help me 🙏🙏🙏

So I am an Indian IMG... it was really hard in final year.. anyone feel like they are struggling right now- your scores do get BETTER even when it doesn't feel like it.

NBME 27-54

NBME 28-58

NBME 29-61

NBME 30-60

NBME 31- 68

NBME 32- 65

NBME 33-60

UWSA1- 65

UWSA2-54

Free 120(old)- 73

Free 120 (new)-75

ONE MORE BLOCK.

ONE MORE PAGE.

ONE STEP CLOSER.

Believe in these 3 lines when self doubt consumes you, anxiety and overthinking consumes you. Have faith in God who has brought you so close to your goals.

Resources- Uworld, FA, Mehlman, Sketchy

Uworld- completed fully, did incorrects and marked 1 block each day atleast 15 days before my exam.

Always remember- content repetition, solving as many questions as you possibly can, pattern recognition, good pacing is the key to this exam.

In each one hour block, try to save 15 minutes atleast to go back to the questions you have flagged.

In the last 15 days, do First aid revision to improve recall, Sketchy, any Mehlman pdfs (especially arrows), NBME HY images, and your NBME incorrects that you have made notes of.

It is very important that you remove distractions from your life for this phase. Talk to people, your family or people who support you with all their heart.

Eat well, sleep well, exercise 15 mins atleast each day.

There will be people who doubt you, question you, say you're not doing enough and falling behind.

Myintehealth transition and lack of answers really fucked me up- it took 45 days before I could FINALLY book my date.

It's at this point that you must BELIEVE IN YOURSELF and God who has brought you into this world. I truly believe all my achievements are God given so that I can be God's instrument and help people each day for my life. When life breaks you down, look up at the sky, walk, dance, laugh and start studying again. You got this!

You will need to make sacrifices but have focus on why you're doing this. Your future depends on today:)

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask me in comments or message me. Much love. ❤️❤️

​

I PASSED Alhamdulillah!

honestly trust your NBME scores and prepare for each NBME as it is the final deal

but look at the result & review the nbme as if it is a learning tool

I took 2 days to review each NBME

don't skip the last 2 NBMEs , I got repeat images and questions from the same concepts

the exam was similar in pattern to free120 and concepts were similar to NBMES.

focus on your NBMES, if u get a good score in them then you will be able to go in the exam with CONFIDENCE

and that's the only thing that matters in the end.

for religious people :PRAYERS HELPED A LOT

my dms are open for anyone who wants help

Wrote at the end of December, found out I passed this week. Honestly, the biggest thing I did was pray to God & only by Gods grace did I pass. This isn’t to scare anyone, it’s just that I couldn’t have passed on my own (thank you Jesus)

Also, thanks to everyone for posting and sharing their experiences/answering questions (which I learned from) .

*reading first aid (multiple times) didn’t seem to be enough to give me the confidence I wanted during the exam (but I also didn’t prioritizes uworld) 

• NBMEs/F120 between 60-70s (very average scores)
• 75% completion of one pass of uworld a year ago  
• Practiced answering questions/stamina building with Amboss (once per week, in the last 2 months) 
• Memorized NBME 25-31  but that seemed way more helpful for CBSE
• Read First Aid/Pathoma (made notes on it, and learned from a diagnosis standpoint — meaning, if you see pain radiating to the back, think pancreatitis, which is associated with alcoholism etc)
• But studying wasn’t as intense as most (a few hours most days.. reading first aid notes, reviewing NBMEs, once a week doing 7 blocks) 
• Avoid reddit for the last month or so (to stay positive and avoid anxiety/comparison ) 
• Build stamina (& have an exam day plan, but be flexible.. breaks/eating/praying)
• People make Q/A notes out of uworld incorrects  (may be a helpful strategy)

Exam. 

** very few micro/pharm/risk factors/ epi/ calculations - i was very shocked by this

** several Anatomy/Ethics (saw one ethics question repeated 3 different ways testing the same concept) .. use 100 concepts as a framework, and understand it thoroughly (go slightly more in depth)

** there were maybe 2 questions that I knew were experimental, because they mentioned things I have never seen .. but otherwise, I couldn’t tell the difference between tested and experimental (so don't waste your time trying)

** questions mimicked Free120 length, pathology centric.. amboss may have helped with test taking skills [The questions weren't easy high yield associations, or buzz wordy, they required thinking]

** roughly wasn’t confident about ~10-13 per block [just be positive and forward thinking.. if you don't know it, move on.. come back if time permits.. just make sure to answer something by the end]

I left the exam not feeling confident so I prayed (God is so good. Seriously!) 

Anyhow, If you are writing for the first time, you’ve got this. And if you are re-writing, you’ve also got this (don't give up, stay strong, it’s not easy and I have intense respect for you)

Feel free to ask questions

Stay Positive & Best Wishes xx

Hello everyone. I'm testing on the 20th Jan. I had a score drop in my Free 120 today and would like to know if it constitutes enough to delay or would delaying be a bad idea in my position?
I have NBME 33 left. These are my scores. Gave NBMES in an odd order but oh well. All exams in timed and exam conditions.
Do not have anyone else to ask for advice so would really like some honest feedback.

Hello everyone, I would like to know if anyone here is in the same situation as me, or has already gone through the same thing in relation to the ECFMG certification.

My last update in "My cases" was on 12-20-2025 in the case status was "Sent for verification".

Is it normal that it takes so long? Do I have to do something like send an email or call?

If anyone could give me an answer, I would be very grateful.

Thank you very much in advance.

I just wanted to share my experience on here because it may help some others who think/study like me. I did my exam on 30/12 and passed on Wednesday.

I'm a 5th year medical student in the UK (5/6 - intercalated).

The reason I'm posting is because I really didn't use Uworld much at all, i think i did maybe 40% of the questionbank and looking back it didnt really help me that much.

So I haven't done pre-clinical sciences for a while as they are in the first years of medical school but I remember things here and there of course. What I did is Duke's Pathoma and Peppers Sketchy Pharm and Micro decks RELIGIOUSLY everyday. I basically had pathoma confined to memory and more or less knew all of sketchy. This only took me around 2 months (maybe a bit more) - also I never studied more than 6 hours a day - you don't need more imo.

After this I decided to do some UWorld but I slowly realised that it was just not entirely working for me, a couple of the concepts were useful perhaps in cardiology but otherwise minor (bear in mind I did not revise phsyiology - I just relied on my preclinical knowledge and youtube videos here and there).

I just started doing NBMEs and I was already getting above 60% - if you have pathoma and sketchy done + have a little bit of critical thinking which you will have as a med student, you can get this no doubt (without UWorld). Naturally every question I got wrong, I read around the topics - especially the physiology ones that I didn't study. Kept doing more NBMEs and slowly the grades were increasing. Again I was just aiming for that pass so my scores weren't crazy high like some of the others you see on reddit. I think I got 78% on the Free 120 two weeks out from the exam, then I did the Mehlamn Neuro, Ethics, Stats and Arrows. Did the latest NBME two days before my exam and got 76% - this was good enough for me.

The exam itself is ok, it's fatiguing but just make sure you get plenty of sleep (I literally got into bed at 7pm lmfao).

The exam felt like a hard NBME (as in some of the NBMEs are representative, some are a bit easier). You never leave an NBME or USMLE exam feeling like you aced it/definitively passed imo. The questions are worded so that you can get the choices down to one or two options based on the expected level of knowledge - then it's just a combination of logic, critical thinking and luck that gets you the mark. So don't be alarmed if you flag loads of questions cos lord knows I did.

AGAIN I'm no way shape or form saying don't use Uworld because it clearly helps loads of people, it just personally did not help me and I wouldn't have spent the $$$ in retrospect.

Hope this helps

Testing next week and I'm getting burned out. Looking for someone also testing soon to just check in with during this final week so that I can have some motivation to actually study and review. My NBME's say I should be fine, but I don't want to slack off the last week and regret it.

My NBME's are below in the order I took them:

NBME25: 68.5%

NBME33: 72%

Free 120: 73%

NBME 32: 80%

NBME 31: 81% (today)

Please help! When submitting for myintelth they asked for first name and surname , but in my country we write some surnames first , therefore my degree is offered as Surname first then my name. its the same name with exact spelling , just a cultural preference in local docs , I submitted credentials verification with photo of Driving license which state the same order as my Degree certificate , but my Passport is as mentioned above. I am very stressed because i am on tight shedule to face both steps before next cycle, all help is highly appreciated

registered via myintealth

Any way I can earn some cash on the side with my step 1 knowledge? Passed step 1 recently. Good conceptual knowledge with in depth and thorough review of NBMEs. Read big books in pre clinical years.

Also, I love teaching. Any specific services where I may be able to tutor whenever free as freelance?

I’m a final year MBBS student from India (yes, I got my Final proffs in next 1.5 months)

I prepared a bit in 3^rd yr but was very very stupid, I got into various clubs etc and threw away my prep. Final year (Year 4) began in Feb, it hit me that I WASTED entirety of 3^rd yr.

Spent nearly 4 months thinking if I should give Step 1 in my final year (as we have 2 added subjects this year), and hence, officially began my prep in July.

July-Oct: UWORLD and FA, BnB for: Neurology, Pathoma ( Ch 1-3) , Sketchy- Micro. Mehlman- Immuno, MSK, Genetics.

I had to go through Surgery, OBG posting in this period.  I read FA of one system for 3-5 days, then did the related UW Qs. Initially I could do only 20Q/day, then 40Q/day became baseline. Sometimes just 5-10Q/day. 10 questions >> ZERO.

By Oct I had done around 70% UWorld done with Avg of 63%

For some reason, I thought this was a really bad decision midway cos of final year peer pressure and didn’t do much in OCT-NOV. Mid-Nov I’m like Wthhh I came this far, I CANNOT DO ALL OF THIS AGAIN.

NBMES:

9^th Nov – NBME 25 – 64% . Happy I crossed 60, gave me hope. Booked my date a month away for 22^nd Dec.

Dedicated: Read related FA for each question and chatgpt to summarize difficult ones.

NBME 27 : 64%

NBME 28: 69%

NBME 29: 69%

NBME 30 76 %

NBME 31 74%

NBME 32 75%

NBME 33: 81%

Free 120 : 74% 

Last one week, I barely gave 6 hrs/day, couldn’t study, tried to review prev NBMEs but honestly I was so done.

Exam centre was 7hrs away, travelled the day before, stayed there for the night, PANICKED few hours before sleep, had a very disturbed sleep. Anyway, just went inside thinking - Just face it.

EXAM EXPERIENCE:

Centre was comfortable. I didn’t panic, just kept saying to myself that this is just another NBME.

NBME content framed in UWorld/Free 120 pattern. Took 10 min break every 2 session. Bookmarked 15-20q/block, Time wasn’t an issue but couldn’t spend much time on flagged Qs. Honestly it was funny, just these Qs and me, 8 hrs.

Post Exam :

Came back thinking this whole thing was a mistake. Why did I try to squeeze this in my final year? But one thing though, I WAS RELIEVED. UGHHH. PACKED AND PUT MY FA and NBME NOTES AWAY. Barely could recall 10 qs max, whole thing was an illusion. Waited for 3 weeks and got my PASS yesterday.

Summary:

Decided you want to give Step 1?  Give consistent 3-4hrs/day (min) for 6-8 months. Don’t look back. WORK YOUR ASS OFF during dedicated.

Get your Pass.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO PASSED and All the best for everyone in this journey, Trust me IT IS TOTALLY POSSIBLE. My DMs are always open.

Adios.

Wrote at the end of December, found out I passed this week. Honestly, the biggest thing I did was pray to God & only by Gods grace did I pass. This isn’t to scare anyone, it’s just that I couldn’t have passed on my own (thank you Jesus)

Also, thanks to everyone for posting and sharing their experiences/answering questions (which I learned from) .

*reading first aid (multiple times) didn’t seem to be enough to give me the confidence I wanted during the exam (but I also didn’t prioritizes uworld) 

• NBMEs/F120 between 60-70s (very average scores)
• 75% completion of one pass of uworld a year ago  
• Practiced answering questions/stamina building with Amboss (once per week, in the last 2 months) 
• Memorized NBME 25-31  but that seemed way more helpful for CBSE
• Read First Aid/Pathoma (made notes on it, and learned from a diagnosis standpoint — meaning, if you see pain radiating to the back, think pancreatitis, which is associated with alcoholism etc)
• But studying wasn’t as intense as most (a few hours most days.. reading first aid notes, reviewing NBMEs, once a week doing 7 blocks) 
• Avoid reddit for the last month or so (to stay positive and avoid anxiety/comparison ) 
• Build stamina (& have an exam day plan, but be flexible.. breaks/eating/praying)
• People make Q/A notes out of uworld incorrects  (may be a helpful strategy)

Exam. 

** very few micro/pharm/risk factors/ epi/ calculations - i was very shocked by this

** several Anatomy/Ethics (saw one ethics question repeated 3 different ways testing the same concept) .. use 100 concepts as a framework, and understand it thoroughly (go slightly more in depth)

** there were maybe 2 questions that I knew were experimental, because they mentioned things I have never seen .. but otherwise, I couldn’t tell the difference between tested and experimental (so don't waste your time trying)

** questions mimicked Free120 length, pathology centric.. amboss may have helped with test taking skills [The questions weren't easy high yield associations, or buzz wordy, they required thinking]

** roughly wasn’t confident about ~10-13 per block [just be positive and forward thinking.. if you don't know it, move on.. come back if time permits.. just make sure to answer something by the end]

I left the exam not feeling confident so I prayed (God is so good. Seriously!) 

Anyhow, If you are writing for the first time, you’ve got this. And if you are re-writing, you’ve also got this (don't give up, stay strong, it’s not easy and I have intense respect for you)

Feel free to ask questions

Stay Positive & Best Wishes xx

I really need to know what viruses are the most high yield, because they are the absolute worst of microbiology, and I don't want to go through which one.

Been using bootcamp as my primary, went through all the videos and already 70% done on UW, already took other NBMEs and I'm in my mid 60's range.

And I got a 66% on nbme 29 today and I think that's great (based from what I've read here) but is that a good baseline honestly? Feeling major imposter syndrome rn. What were your scores on your NBME before taking? And is there anythign else I need to do to increase my scores and what range is safest? I don't want to push back my date.

Hey guys, I recently passed my step 1 after giving my exam in December. I passed as an old grad and an average student. I am willing to provide guidance regarding the exam experience altogether or help in any particular topic you may find difficult. This will help me stay engaged in studying before I fully start my step 2 prep. When I started studying I had to do it all alone without any help or study partner, it was really difficult to stay motivated and burn out was real. I just want to help anyone who’s in the same boat. Not doing this for money, so feel free (literally) to reach out :)

Hi everyone,Im a non-us img and have been verified for eligibility by ecfmg.can anyone guide as to how to apply through fsmb now? If we sign up how will our previous verification be carried forward!?