243 on CBSE 8 weeks out, 234 on NBME 17 3 weeks out?

[XxSynapsexX]

This is really making me angry. Before I started dedicated step time I got a 243 on the CBSE. I thought I would surely hit 250s. Been doing UWORLD, First Aid, pathoma and sketchy meticulously and took NBME 17 and got a 234???? The odd thing is I scored an 89% on NBME 17 and an 85% on the CBSE.

Is NBME 17 normally this much lower compared to other tests?

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[BillrothI]

I've heard that NBME 17 tends to underpredict.

FWIW -- I had a similar experience regarding the CBSE and NBME 19: well above average on the CBSE before starting dedicated, and then a lower score on NBME 19 after four weeks of studying. I can only hope that the curve on the actual exam is more reasonable.

 

[XxSynapsexX]

I hope that is the case. I just went through the test, got like 9 reproductive questions wrong and made quite a few silly errors. Even so i think its ridiculous that an 89% correct only equates to a 234.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Yeah the scaling on 17 is ridiculous. I took 16, 17, and 18 within 2 weeks, 250 on 16, then 242 on 17 and 255 on 18 a few days later. Not sure what to make of it but I'm hoping it was a fluke

 

[XxSynapsexX]

Nice, I think you'll definitely score in the 250s.

I have on month left and starting my second round of my resources so hopefully it should solidy what Ive learned.

 

[XxSynapsexX]

Well I took NBME 18 1 week later and scored a 250. I feel like no matter how hard the test is I will always get between 20-25 wrong. Got 20 wrong on NBME 18 and it was a 250. Got 24 wrong on NBME 17 and it translated to 234.

Honestly curving for medical exams just do not make sense to me. I personally don't find questions harder or easier, its either I know it or I don't.

Maybe it would be acceptable to have curves where your scores would vary 2-3 points but a 16 pt difference? Don't think so.

 

[PIDS]

How was NBME 17 in terms of difficulty compared with other NBMEs?
TIA

 

[doc-Oc]

This is really making me angry. Before I started dedicated step time I got a 243 on the CBSE. I thought I would surely hit 250s. Been doing UWORLD, First Aid, pathoma and sketchy meticulously and took NBME 17 and got a 234???? The odd thing is I scored an 89% on NBME 17 and an 85% on the CBSE.

Is NBME 17 normally this much lower compared to other tests?

From what I hear nbme 17 has a strict curve. Try taking another nbme and see where you stand?
Also how did you do so well on the cbse, mind sharing what you did?

 

[Osteoth]

So from what I've been reading 17/19 have harsh curves and 18 is the most fair?

 

[XxSynapsexX]

So from what I've been reading 17/19 have harsh curves and 18 is the most fair?

Yeah the curves are very harsh. I can't speak for the difficulty, I honestly felt like they were all similar to me. My problem has never been with difficulty of questions more with just not knowing certain topics well. I think I especially did not as well on NBME 17 because it had a lot of reproductive, endocrinology, physiology which are all topics I struggle with.

I have heard NBME 18 is fairly more difficult but I was still scoring about 87-90% on all the NBMES which is why I feel the score reports and curves aren't accurate for me.

 

[XxSynapsexX]

From what I hear nbme 17 has a strict curve. Try taking another nbme and see where you stand?
Also how did you do so well on the cbse, mind sharing what you did?

I am not really sure it was so unexpected, the frustrating thing is I didnt improve as much as I hoped from the CBSEs. I think the CBSE favored my strengths that day. Also I had a good pre-dedicated study routine. Finished USMLE rx and did a 10,000 card Anki deck based on first aid which I loved because each question had a picture of the page of first aid that the info can be found which helped build great visual memory and give a good map in my mind of first aid material.

I honestly feel RX is better than Kaplan, I did some kaplan and felt their questions were too nitpicky. USMLE RX was known for being easy in the past but I have been averaging 60ish percents and I heard the recently improved their questions to be more like STEP/UWORLD. Still not the best but after taking step, definetely feel like RX is better than kaplan for the exam.

 

[XxSynapsexX]

Well I got my step score back... my worst fears came true... got a 234..

After busting my ass getting 240s-250s on practices consistently, I suppose I choked, I suppose its bad luck, whatever this number defines me.

Cant believe how Hard I studied for that dumb exam, I gave my life to it for 4-5 months and thought I did well,, guess not.

 

[deleted884144]

Well I got my step score back... my worst fears came true... got a 234..

After busting my ass getting 240s-250s on practices consistently, I suppose I choked, I suppose its bad luck, whatever this number defines me.

Cant believe how Hard I studied for that dumb exam, I gave my life to it for 4-5 months and thought I did well,, guess not.

Sorry to hear that. Would you say that the actual exam had questions more similar to USMLE Rx, Kaplan, or USMLE world? Thanks.