please please help me!!!

[minnime]

Hi
Please help me. I am taking my test next friday (23). I have a serious problem with qbank. Right now when I do random 50 questions, I am scoring in the 40's!!! If I study the material and take the questions, I score in the 70's!!. I am so scared right now as I know that the random questions are the predictors of my step 1 score. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I have taken the kaplan live prep as well, did well in my first two year of med school. Right now as it stands, I am at a cumulative of 51% with about 34 % questions done. last 100 random done today were 42 and 46 %. I in the first set I really paid attention and got a 42, in the second set I just skimmed the question and got a 46!! how does that work? What should I do???

Thanks for all your help and advice in advance

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[Haku]

I dont know if I can help you, but i'm right there with you. When I do single subject tests my scores are much higher (like after ive reviewed), but when I do the random tests after not having studied, they're in the 40s and 50s. My test is also around then, the 28th, and i'm doing nothing but freaking out. Just keep going through first aid over and over again, and keep going through questions, because everyone says by the end of qbank you'll get to the 70s. I find it so hard to believe from the 40s and 50s though...

 

[chintu]

If you guys are just starting to do random questions then its reasonable to score that low at first. I have always done random questions on qbank and when I got to 30% done is when I started to hit in the mid-60s. Keep doing them and you'll score high subsequently. Also, definitely take a few NBME exams because I keep hearing on here how actual USMLE were nothing like Qbank questions and were very close to NBMEs. Your Qbank score is not a direct correlator of your actual USMLE score but NBMEs gauge it well. Don't freak out, if you guys did well in your first two years of medschool then you'll definitely do fine. What you learn in 5-6 wks of studying only makes a difference of a handful of points.

 

[mimi1]

I definitely feel your pain. My test is on the 22nd and part of my problem is that I used the "Penn Method" to study. With this method, the first few weeks are used for general review and understanding. It is not until the last week or so that you are supposed to really memorize things. I think this is the trouble that I am having. A lot of questions that I get wrong are simply due to not having memorized something. Plus, I did not get to Path until this week, which is of course a big chunk of info. So, I feel like after I have covered path and have really begun to MEMORIZE, then my scores should go up. Atleast I hope...


Good Luck! Just stay calm and confident and do not freak out!

 

[ambientbaby]

Are you guys reading the answers after you finish a section? You should review each section as soon as you finish and look up stuff you don't recognize or understand. This is a decent way to learn and a great way to improve your QBank %. Take a NBME and see where you stand.

 

[minnime]

Thanks for the advice, its nice to see I'm not alone!! I took an nbme exam about 2 weeks ago and got a 200. Since then I've been doing nothing but studying and reviewing. It was actually only till last week i realized I should have memorized everything fromt he getgo too. I completely understand everything, i think memorization is the problem. Just did another random set and got 52%..guess its a start.

minnime