Exam Postponed

I just rescheduled my exam to November 20th. With Hurricane Sandy fast approaching and the power outages expected to occur, I figured it would throw my study schedule for a loop. Last year when Hurricane Irene hit RI we lost power at my house for a couple days and the state overall was without power for about week. They are saying the power outages are going to be worse this time around so I decided it would be best to push my exam date back. I cannot wait to be done with this.

Step 1 Score and Residency

During one of my studying lulls, I thought it would be a good idea to see what kind of score I need to get for a fair shot into plastic surgery... kidding. Anyway the chart below is taken from the 2011 NRMP Charting Outcomes in the Match. For the full 2011 NRMP report click here. The below just focuses on the Step 1 scores of those who matched in their respective specialty.  I know the print is a bit small but if you click on the image it will enlarge.  

So shooting for a 235 seems like a good goal, right? It's a high enough score that it doesn't outright eliminate me from most specialties, but it isn't so high that I feel like I have no chance of reaching it. We'll see, maybe I'm just fooling myself. Truth be told I'm actually shooting for perfection, and once I fall short of that goal, hopefully I'll still be left with a pretty good score. An old adage inspired my current philosophy on setting goals: "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land amongst the stars."