Should I delay my exam?

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So I've been studying for this thing for about 6 weeks now. I' didn't do any specific prep work before this geared towards the boards. I've been using First Aid and pathomy. My UWorld Qbank is at overall 60% (started at around 50 about 10 days ago when i first started doing questions on the regular) and my recent sets average around 60-68%.

I took NBME 7 yesterday and I scored 214 and I was completely depressed about it. I want to break atleast 230. What should I do? My test is in two weeks. I keep missing things where I go back and think "Oh my god, I knew that!"

I'm not really sure what to do because 3rd year starts for me just a few days after my scheduled test date and I'm not sure what I'd do in terms of buying myself extra time other than taking a whole year "off" HELP!

okay I haven't taken the real deal yet but I would not feel comfortable going in with a 214. I don't think it's worth it to take Step 1 without being properly prepared just so you can start 3rd year on time. In the long run, your residency/career is more important than when you start clinicals. I would study and take Step 1 only after you have consistently been reaching your goal score on NBMEs.

Originally Posted by panicattackmode

So I've been studying for this thing for about 6 weeks now. I' didn't do any specific prep work before this geared towards the boards. I've been using First Aid and pathomy. My UWorld Qbank is at overall 60% (started at around 50 about 10 days ago when i first started doing questions on the regular) and my recent sets average around 60-68%.

I took NBME 7 yesterday and I scored 214 and I was completely depressed about it. I want to break atleast 230. What should I do? My test is in two weeks. I keep missing things where I go back and think "Oh my god, I knew that!"

I'm not really sure what to do because 3rd year starts for me just a few days after my scheduled test date and I'm not sure what I'd do in terms of buying myself extra time other than taking a whole year "off" HELP!

you really have to weigh the pros and cons carefully. Get more information from your school advisors. Also I think it's easy to forget that you still have TWO WEEKS, that's a ton of time. I'm pretty sure you can go up 15 points in 2 weeks, just hit your weak points. Heck, you can prob go over Fa again in that time. But ye think about this carefully. Taking a year off goes on your record, and residency directors aren't dumb...

Alright I'm not sure what to make of this... My last 3 sets of UWorld have been 76%, 80%, 71%. Timed, random, unused. This makes me feel better but but I still don't know what happened with the NBME. I'm thinking maybe it was nerves and I don't remember being particularly focused while I was taking it but the questions seemed harder to me.

In any case, what do you guys think, does UWorld cumulative count more or more recent block scores in terms of how prepared I should feel.

I'm hoping I will be able to perform like I am now and keep it up and do the same on the actual thing. I'm going to take one more UWorld block after I do some review and we shall see if I can keep this a bit consistent.

obviously the last few blocks count more, but doing well on three sets dont mean much. maybe you got questions in an area you were better at .

Your NBME could always be an aberrant score. Take a few days, review what you feel are your weak points, then take another NBME and see where you stand.

I'm not really sure how to proceed about NBME. If I take another one closer to the actual thing, I could possibly freak myself out again.

I think I'm going to proceed with UWorld. I have 34% of the qbank left. If I can keep my scores consistent for the next week, I'll take that as a good sign. I'm hoping to finish Uworld by the 20th-21st. If I keep steady and/or above 70%, I'm going to go for it without taking an NBME and using the last 9 days to do a top to bottom of Pathoma and First Aid. Does this sound reasonable to pro-sdners?

Originally Posted by panicattackmode

I'm not really sure how to proceed about NBME. If I take another one closer to the actual thing, I could possibly freak myself out again.

I think I'm going to proceed with UWorld. I have 34% of the qbank left. If I can keep my scores consistent for the next week, I'll take that as a good sign. I'm hoping to finish Uworld by the 20th-21st. If I keep steady and/or above 70%, I'm going to go for it without taking an NBME and using the last 9 days to do a top to bottom of Pathoma and First Aid. Does this sound reasonable to pro-sdners?

I'm by no means a pro-sdn-er but I'm also in almost the same exact boat as you. I took NBME 7 (my first and only practice exam so far) exactly 2 weeks before my step1 and scored exactly the same as you. Also, my first pass thru Uworld isnt finished but at random, unused im at about 70% correct. My test is now in a week and at first i was extremely freaked out with my performance on NBME7 but I think it was because i hadnt fully reviewed everything yet and I'm thinking (hoping) it wont be a good indication of where i'll be when i take the actual exam. Have you thought about doing the UWSAs instead of another NBME? Scores seem to be higher on that and could be a bit of a confidence boost before the real exam. That's my plan for now - to go thru all of First Aid again, take the UWSAs, pathoma once more and then finish up Uworld

Good luck to you! I spoke to 3 different staff (clerkship director, my advisor, in house "learning expert') and all three pretty much agreed that I shouldn't be too worried. I'm taking the performance boost in my Uworld as a good sign and carrying on as planned. I think I'm going to avoid investing large amounts of time where I don't really learn anything like NBMEs or other exam simulations. Not sure how wise an idea that is but I figure, I might as well use those 4 hours to do more review than potentially freak myself out right before the actual thing again.

If i can keep up my scores on uworld, i think that's all the confidence boost i need. Hopefully I don't jinx myself :/

Let me know if you end up taking a practice test again. I'd like to know how you did. That may help me decide whether I should take a practice too

Alright, just did another and got a 65% There was a ton of really convoluted biochem and pharm questions on this set. I guess that's where I gotta take my focus now.

Originally Posted by panicattackmode

I'm not really sure how to proceed about NBME. If I take another one closer to the actual thing, I could possibly freak myself out again.

suck it up and take an nbme. i don't really understand how you could walk into an exam without taking many practice tests! Uworld is a great study tool BUT nothing beats a real NBME because they will be way more similar to what you will see on the real thing.

Don't let yourself get freaked out by an NBME. Take it and learn from your mistakes. Go look at the NBME spoilers thread- you will see that many people make the same mistakes. You say that there were lots of convulted pharm and biochem questions ...if you look at an NBME you will see that its not really like that. I personally found the pharm and biochem to be very straightforward whereas the path was tricky.

NOT doing an NBME sounds like a bad idea to me. They are the best predictors of your score. If you look in the 2012 experiences thread, everyone who scored well took multiple nbmes spaced out over their course of study and often their pratices scores correlated pretty damn well. You can sit around read pathoma all day but nothing beats doing authentic questions to see if you actually retained info and can apply concepts.

uworld scores from today: 73, 72, 73. Arghhh no consitency


I'd take an NBME but I'm not sure what the benefit is since I won't be "learning" anything. The NBME may be more accurate I guess and if it is, I'll suffer the consequences I guess. I don't think I want to make a last minute decisions based on it.

I'm reviewing and doing Uworld questions. I'll be done with Uworld in 3ish more days and I have Kaplan Qbank too.

I don't know if I should do Kaplan questions or redo all the Uworld questions i got wrong. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by panicattackmode

uworld scores from today: 73, 72, 73. Arghhh no consitency


I'd take an NBME but I'm not sure what the benefit is since I won't be "learning" anything. The NBME may be more accurate I guess and if it is, I'll suffer the consequences I guess. I don't think I want to make a last minute decisions based on it.

I'm reviewing and doing Uworld questions. I'll be done with Uworld in 3ish more days and I have Kaplan Qbank too.

I don't know if I should do Kaplan questions or redo all the Uworld questions i got wrong. Any ideas?

73, 72, 73 sounds consistent to me.

But Uworld %s aren't really an indicator of how you'll do. It's whether you actually understand the material or not. Use the Uworld Cume assessment bars to hone in on your weaknesses. And I think a full read of FA + a full read over all your weaknesses in FA before the exam is necessary.

Two more from today. 71 and 80.

The questions seem "easier" to me though. I don't know if I'm actually learning or if I'm getting lucky..

One thing I find myself doing now more than before is reading each stem, asking myself "what disease is this?" and then looking at the answer choices. It's been helpful

Originally Posted by panicattackmode

uworld scores from today: 73, 72, 73. Arghhh no consitency


I'd take an NBME but I'm not sure what the benefit is since I won't be "learning" anything. The NBME may be more accurate I guess and if it is, I'll suffer the consequences I guess. I don't think I want to make a last minute decisions based on it.

I'm reviewing and doing Uworld questions. I'll be done with Uworld in 3ish more days and I have Kaplan Qbank too.

I don't know if I should do Kaplan questions or redo all the Uworld questions i got wrong. Any ideas?

wow those scores are really not consistent at all, I don't get why your scores jump around so much

Originally Posted by medman88

wow those scores are really not consistent at all, I don't get why your scores jump around so much

Oh sorry, I mean not consistent because the one before that was 65%.

Anyway, I just finished my last set for the day and I got a 76%.

I'm noticing something strange though. My first set everyday (the morning one) always has a low dip. I wonder why that is...I feel like I need to move my clock early enough so that I'm up at least a good 2-3 hours before I sit for the exam. Otherwise, I'll probably be groggy and and I don't want that morning dip to affect my actual score haha

Scored a 241!!! THERE IS HOPE

Originally Posted by panicattackmode

Scored a 241!!! THERE IS HOPE

On a real thing? If yes then F****** awesome. Congrats!

Originally Posted by RedSoxSuck

On a real thing? If yes then F****** awesome. Congrats!

Yup on the real thing! Now that I think about it, there was a really annoying old man who had brought his whole kitchen into the library sitting a desk away from me when I was taking the NBME that I bombed.


I'm so glad I won't have to have mini panic attacks every time I get reminded of the step1. phewww