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For those of you who've taken NBME 13, in terms of difficulty how do you compare it to the other NBMEs?
NBME 13 vs other NBMEs
- Thread starter missmedschool
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It felt harder than 7, 11, and 12 but you have to remember your score isn't just a 3 digit, it's a range. I think it was well within my potential range relative to my other NBME scores.
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6: 247 (6 wks out)
7: 261 (1 wk out)
11: 259 (1 wk out)
12: 254 (4 days)
13: 245 (today)
uwsa1: 263
uwsa2: 265
Yeah I think form 13 is pretty hard (thought 12 was hard too but in a more thinking way). Kind of demoralizing actually to think 6 weeks of studying puts me lower than my baseline nbme lol... I'm tired of studying for this exam, I feel like Sisyphus now.
A lot of questions on form 13 seem to be like stuff that our review materials haven't yet incorporated. So it's more WTF.
7: 261 (1 wk out)
11: 259 (1 wk out)
12: 254 (4 days)
13: 245 (today)
uwsa1: 263
uwsa2: 265
Yeah I think form 13 is pretty hard (thought 12 was hard too but in a more thinking way). Kind of demoralizing actually to think 6 weeks of studying puts me lower than my baseline nbme lol... I'm tired of studying for this exam, I feel like Sisyphus now.
A lot of questions on form 13 seem to be like stuff that our review materials haven't yet incorporated. So it's more WTF.
13 was fantastic; I thought it required more thought than 7, 11, or 12 (for me, at least). I definitely recommend it. View it as a challenge rather than something to be afraid of because it might demoralize you. After taking it you'll be more prepared for the types of questions that involve more thought on the real exam 
edit: the curve on 13 is nicer (got the same # of questions wrong on 12 and 13, but scored 3 points higher on 13), so the increased difficulty for me was reflected by the scoring being a little less harsh.
edit: the curve on 13 is nicer (got the same # of questions wrong on 12 and 13, but scored 3 points higher on 13), so the increased difficulty for me was reflected by the scoring being a little less harsh.
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I actually thought NBME 13 was easier than NBME 12, my score on 13 was 7 points higher than on 12.
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I scored the same on 13 and 12...15 days apart....thought behavioral on this exam was way more difficult then any of the other nbmes I've taken (11,12,5)
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13 was fantastic; I thought it required more thought than 7, 11, or 12 (for me, at least). I definitely recommend it. View it as a challenge rather than something to be afraid of because it might demoralize you. After taking it you'll be more prepared for the types of questions that involve more thought on the real exam
edit: the curve on 13 is nicer (got the same # of questions wrong on 12 and 13, but scored 3 points higher on 13), so the increased difficulty for me was reflected by the scoring being a little less harsh.
I dunno about that. Normally after an NBME, I can spend a few hours going over First Aid and re-remind myself some of the concepts tested. Form 13 didn't really test much of anything for me except that I need to read the question stems more carefully. Felt overly nitpicky.
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I agree with the bolded. I felt 13 had more stuff where I didn't really know what was going on compared to 12 where I just had to sit there and reason it out. I took 13 one week in and 12 ten days later and did nine points better on 12.
I'm kind of starting to regret taking 13 so early, but I did it to get the hardest out of the way first to gauge my studying progress during the first week.
Hmm I can see how some would call this test nitpicky; however, I thought a lot of the questions could be reasoned through and the test required more consideration between competing answer choices than the other NBMEs (forced me to really think about what was going on because the answer choices could be similar to each other or only partially correct). I also felt that some of the questions reached beyond what's inside FA, which I appreciated. I guess we'll agree to disagree; I really liked all of the NBMEs I took though
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I took NBME 13 today, and I agree with some that it was more "nit-picky" than other forms, but I don't think that it was necessarily more difficult. There were definitely some questions that I never would have known no matter how much I study, but I kind of feel that those are just going to happen no matter what, so I might as well get used to not knowing a few answers and moving on. I think that you should definitely do it as it is the most recent one put out, and I think that if you carefully read through the questions and answer choices, then it will be on par with the other NBMEs you've taken. Also, I thought that 13 had a good mix of material on it- no one subject seemed stressed disproportionately, and with getting the extended feedback I was able to see that I need to hit behavior science pretty hard in the next week (my exam is on June 16th). I say take it- maybe you'll agree with me that it was much easier than 12, and you can bask in the glory of your high score and call it an early night (I'm getting out of the library and into the sun while it's still up for ONCE).
For reference:
Baseline exam (administered by school)- 220
NBME 6 (after a few weeks of studying, many Uworld Qs)- 230
NBME 11 (1 week later)- 235
NBME 12 (1 week later)- 240
NBME 13 (today, 5 days after NBME 12 and after finishing up Uworld)- 250 (Since I had such a big improvement over NBME 12, I wouldn't be surprised if my score dropped a little as this one may have been an out-liar)
(I'm getting out of the library and into the sun while it's still up for ONCE). For reference:
Baseline exam (administered by school)- 220
NBME 6 (after a few weeks of studying, many Uworld Qs)- 230
NBME 11 (1 week later)- 235
NBME 12 (1 week later)- 240
NBME 13 (today, 5 days after NBME 12 and after finishing up Uworld)- 250 (Since I had such a big improvement over NBME 12, I wouldn't be surprised if my score dropped a little as this one may have been an out-liar)
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Is there any way you guys would be willing to post how many questions you missed and what score you ended up with for practice test 13. I missed 32 and ended up with a 233, so I was wondering how many more questions I would have had to answer correctly to end up with a 240+ score. Thanks!
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huh? I got 28 wrong and got a 242, how is this possible? Perhaps the questions are weighted.
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nah hes just being stupid.i think i got 28 wrong as well and got 242
I'm sorry guys I was being stupid. Not on purpose though. I went and counted through the incorrect columns and got 27. I just noticed it says the problems overlap.
I got 12 wrong and got a 261.
I got 12 wrong and got a 261.
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I'm pretty convinced they're all about the same based on my exams:
NBME 6: 259
NBME 11: 264
NBME12: 266
NBME 13: 264
Real deal is in a week, and I feel the exams have been consistent. There are nit picky questions on all of them, but the real meat and potatoes questions are always there, so if you have a good knowledge base I think your scores ought to be pretty consistent too.
NBME 6: 259
NBME 11: 264
NBME12: 266
NBME 13: 264
Real deal is in a week, and I feel the exams have been consistent. There are nit picky questions on all of them, but the real meat and potatoes questions are always there, so if you have a good knowledge base I think your scores ought to be pretty consistent too.
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For the record, I got 18 wrong and a 250. Hopefully that will help if anyone is taking an offline version (I know, very hated/taboo on most boards around here) or if people are trying to get as many inputs as possible for what the curve is like on this exam, as I know people are always trying to figure out % correct vs. their score.
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The questions are weighted differently.
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I took 13 today and scored a 261 with 12 wrong. That is over 20 points higher than I got on 11 and 12. That being said, it certainly felt harder. At the end, I felt like I missed maybe 50 questions. I was surprised when I finished it and saw the 261! Then later, I did a block of 46 UW questions on random and got a 73%. I always do much better on NBMEs than UW for some reason.
Anyway, I take the real deal on Saturday. I wish I could just take the 261.
Anyway, I take the real deal on Saturday. I wish I could just take the 261.
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I think I'm about to set a precedent for being the only person who's found NBME13 to be the easiest of the NBMEs.
My results these past few days:
NBME6 (12 days-out) = 252 (16 wrong)
NBME7 (11 days-out) = 254 (15 wrong)
NBME13 (8 days-out; today) = 264 = 10 wrong (all confirmed online w/ extended feedback)
If I have to try to be objective though, I think 6+7 have some very poorly written / nebulous questions. I found ~half of the ones I got wrong on those forms were because I had no idea what they were even asking. Sleep was a big factor for me, because I took 6+7 still pretty jetlagged having come from Australia to New York, and was freaking out after those results.
I have not yet sat NBMEs 11 or 12, but I can definitely say that I found 6+7 to be the hardest of them all so far, and I've done 1-7, 13.
My results these past few days:
NBME6 (12 days-out) = 252 (16 wrong)
NBME7 (11 days-out) = 254 (15 wrong)
NBME13 (8 days-out; today) = 264 = 10 wrong (all confirmed online w/ extended feedback)
If I have to try to be objective though, I think 6+7 have some very poorly written / nebulous questions. I found ~half of the ones I got wrong on those forms were because I had no idea what they were even asking. Sleep was a big factor for me, because I took 6+7 still pretty jetlagged having come from Australia to New York, and was freaking out after those results.
I have not yet sat NBMEs 11 or 12, but I can definitely say that I found 6+7 to be the hardest of them all so far, and I've done 1-7, 13.
