Four Weeks

The STEP 1 exam has been scheduled. Four weeks from tomorrow (Thursday, September 28 in Tulsa, Oklahoma), I take the longest and most difficult exam (8 hours of fun) of my life. And I'm not too excited.

I thought I was doing okay, but I took a simulation test and scored merely a 190. Passing is 192, and to be even remotely competitive, you want to have a score over 205. So I have four weeks to smash more knowledge in my brain. Granted, the test was UWorld, and therefore more difficult than what I may expect on the real thing, and the questions given seemed harder than usual for UWorld, but I am still (rightfully) in a bit of a panic. So I will be attempting to study for (at least) ten hours every day until the exam, with one official day off per week. (Though workout days do admittedly take some time out).

In the midst of this, I am also trying to spiritually awaken. Because I of course reach out to my God in heaven in such times of desperation, since this was all His idea anyway. I am also still planning my trip to NYC. Between couch surfing and friends in the area, it looks like I will not be homeless.

Anyway, back to it.

Less Than Six Weeks

I'm less than six weeks from the date upon which I hope to schedule my USMLE STEP 1 exam. The equation that people have posted online which seems to correlate most with peoples' actual score is one's practice test score average x 2.4 + 84. Given that my average included scores from during the anxiety-laden election season last year, I tend to think that my average is higher than what that showed (56), but even if it is precisely what I have had, I am still safely above passing. My current average (after having completed all of UWorld, which means that I am repeating the 2500-ish questions) is 63, a little above listed average within the question bank.

So I study with some hope, which is a weird thing with which to study. It also helps that I am planning a road trip to NYC, then to Portland (after stopping in Chicago and Milwaukee), down through San Francisco and Napa Valley, hopping through LA, then stopping over to Denver before I go home for a wedding in November. If things go nicely, I will start this trip a day or two after my exam.

Hoping to see a few crushes on this trip, and planning some photo shoots as well. One crush has responded in the affirmative, while the other remains unresponsive (given how aggressively I instinctively tried to give a terrible first impression, this is not the most shocking development).

All that is left to do is keep trying to study and also (importantly) to remember to include days off. Both of these things are essential.

If I am being honest, a lot of whatever self-esteem I have acquired in the dating world has been in relation to the fact that I plan on being a doctor. So I need to do well enough to actually move on with those plans, because a guy who dropped out of med school is considerably less attractive than a doctor. Anyway, that's probably a blog post for a night when I feel less secure in myself.