USMLE Step 1 Preparation: How To Bounce Back From A Failure

So you failed the USMLE Step 1 exam… Now what? This is not uncommon, and in fact a very high number of students fail the Step 1 exam every year and still end up matching into good programs, but you need to have a plan if you want to be one of those students. The key is having a solid grasp on your USMLE Step 1 preparation.

In the following video, we’ll give you a step-by-step plan for bouncing back after a USMLE Step 1 exam failure.

If you’d prefer to read the entire transcript, you can do so below.

Also, don’t forget to TWEET THIS VIDEO: https://ctt.ec/bdHaq

Welcome everybody to another episode of the USMLE Success Academy’s youtube show…

Today I’m going to talk to you about something that unfortunately is a reality for many medical students, which is a Step 1 failure.

Now, if you’ve taken your exam already and you’ve failed, today’s episode is for you. What I’m going to do is walk you through some of the biggest reasons why students end up failing the exam and give you a plan of action for your next attempt.

By the end of the video, you’ll have and a solid plan in place to make sure that you don’t fall victim to the Step 1 exam the next time around.

Now lets dive in and talk about how to bounce back from a Step 1 failure.

You Failed, What Now?

So to start out, I want to let you know that if you’ve failed your Step 1 exam, you’re not alone and there’s no shame in failing.

The Step 1 exam is widely known to be the toughest, most rigorous exam that medical students have to take, and it is also arguably one of the most difficult standardized tests out there.

So if you’ve failed your Step 1 exam, take some time to get over it, then realize that many people fail the exam and still end up matching into a great residency program. The key after a failure is to pick yourself up, figure out what went wrong, and work harder for a good score.

So what I’d like to do is give you 3 big reasons why students typically end up failing their exam, how to get over them, and then give you a strategy for moving forward.

So here are 3 really big reasons why students seem to be ending up with a failing grade on their Step 1 exams.

Reason #1

Not listening to the results of their NBME exams. Now, this is a big one and NBME exams are an integral part of proper USMLE Step 1 preparation. 

So many students who come to us with a past failure send us their NBME reports and they never once achieved a passing score…

Often times students simply feel as though they’ll be able to step up their game on exam day, but unfortunately most students tend to fall a bit from NBME to actual Step 1 score.

So what you need to ensure is that you’re achieving some solid scores on your NBME exams, and not just once, but at least 2 times, and ideally 3 times.

After years of working with Step 1 students, our team of Physicians have settled upon a minimum NBME score of 500 as the ideal score to achieve to ensure good odds of passing the exam…

So, if you aren’t achieving the ideal NBME scores on more than 1 fresh NBME exam, keep working until you’ve done so.

Reason #2

Not taking full advantage of the information in the question banks.

Now, there is a very specific way that we teach students how to use question banks for maximum results during their USMLE Step 1 preparation, but I don’t want to go into too much detail on that right here.

What I will tell you is that the question banks present you with a wealth of knowledge, but you have to tap into what they’re offering you…

Most students use question banks as nothing more than questions to answer and to see what percentages they’re getting, but if you think about it, each question has 1 correct answer and 4 incorrect answers… And after each question, you get a thorough explanation on each of those 5 answer choices.

What this means is that when you stick to only reviewing what’s important from the correct answer, you’re actually missing out on learning what 80% of the question is trying to teach you.

So by using the question bank incorrectly, you’re only really learning 20 percent of whats inside.

If you were to thoroughly review information about each of those answer choices for each question, you’re getting 5 times more information than if you weren’t…

And that can make a world of a difference when it comes to your exam knowledge.

Reason #3

Being too superficial with your preparation.

This really just means taking shortcuts instead of diving deep into the information.

Now… Everyone knows the term HIGH-YIELD… And because this term gets thrown around when you’re studying for the Step 1, many students avoid going into the nitty gritty details and instead opt for higher yield and more superficial study strategies, such as limiting their reading to the First Aid.

While review books have their place, they are not meant to replace a review of absolutely everything you learned in your first 2 years of medical school.

The Step 1 exam covers everything, so literally everything you learned in medical school is fair game.

You need to be diving deeper into your old notes, or to make your life simpler going to a Step 1 prep program like ours. Either way, you need to get out of that high-yield mindset and instead focus on really learning the information you covered in medical school.

If you take the approach of wanting to learn everything for the benefit of your career, you will find that answering those tough USMLE questions is a bit easier for you next time.

A Plan To Bounce Back

So those are 3 reasons why students are failing, amongst of course many others.

Now what you need is a plan to bounce back. So here we go with a few steps you can take to get yourself back on track and moving in the right direction again…

Step 1. Do some digging and figure out what you did wrong…

Often times this is one of the 3 things I mentioned previously, but really what you need to identify is where you took a shortcut, or what you might have done that could have affected your score.

You need to be brutally honest with yourself here… Did you always do things the long and hard way, or did you try and figure out ways to take shortcuts?

Let me be honest with you guys… When it comes to getting results on the Step 1, or anywhere else in life for that matter, taking shortcuts rarely leads to the results you want.

If you think you took any shortcuts when preparing your last time, I want you to take the longer, harder approach this time, because at the end of the long and hard road comes better preparedness and an easier time the next time around.

I find that the more rigorous our preparation, the easier it is to actually perform on the exam.

Step 2. Once you’ve figured out where you went wrong, devise a timeframe for yourself for the next attempt.

Now, if you were close on the exam, you may need 1-2 months, if you weren’t close, you might need 4-6 months…

Everyone is different, but what you need to do is figure out how long you realistically need to get to the point where you’re easily passing your NBME exams. Developing the correct timeframe is an essential part of successful USMLE Step 1 preparation.

Step 3. Once you’ve got your big timeframe set, break down those months into weeks and days and map out exactly what you’ll be doing on each day…

Often times, students struggle with their preparation because they don’t have a highly detailed plan in place.

Without a roadmap, you’ll never get to where you’re trying to go…

My team at the Success Academy realized this early on and this is why many of our Step 1 preparation programs come with personalized study plans, because they work.

So, figure out what you’ll do every hour of every day, then stick to that plan.

Step 4. Insert NBME days into your schedule so that you can track your progress.

Remember how important these tests are…

They are the most accurate way of gauging your improvement and readiness for the exam.

I suggest putting them in at the halfway mark and following completion of your initial schedule, then planning a re-review based on the results of those NBME exams.

And thats it.

This should give you some insight into why you might have failed and it should also give you a plan of attack so that you can put your best foot forward during your next round of USMLE Step 1 preparation.