Advice needed---Prometric lost my exam

[rotatedline]

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My exam was 2 weeks ago and during the exam a thunderstorm came through and knocked out power to the building. After a lengthy wait we were told the servers had been fried and our exams were gone. Unfortunately, I was on the 6th section and nearly done. Connecting with the NBME has been an absolute nightmare and prometric said there is nothing else that can be done on their end so I have not been able to reschedule the exam.

During the last two weeks I have been toying with the idea of waiting to (re)take the exam at the end of third year and wanted to see if anyone had been in a similar situation and if there was any salient advice. I am a DO student and took comlex a few days after the usmle. I felt relatively prepared for the usmle so I am having difficulty deciding whether to wait or take it again as soon as possible. My studying to date:
2x Pathoma
3x FA
1.5x Uworld
NBME 11- 231
NBME 12- 240

My original thought was try to complete another full pass of FA and then take it again, but studying during rotations has been difficult and I am worried that I am too far removed from uworld (my subscription expired). So any thoughts on scheduling/ideas/etc would definitely be appreciated.

 

[csmittyB]

My only suggestion is to keep trying to contact the NBME. I'd hope that they'd give you a refund considering this whole situation is out of your control. I have a feeling this is going to turn into a case of Prometric saying contact NBME while NBME says contact Prometric.

 

[Phloston]

Are you f****** serious? That's ridiculous.

As far as when to take the exam again, just whenever you're ready again. I'm not sure how your school system works or when you're able to sit it, but it could be a huge advantage for you taking it at the end of third-year. Someone at my school got a 276 by holding out another year doing additional prep, but yet again, it really depends on your circumstances. In the end, you might be amazed at how this actually benefited you.

 

[rotatedline]

My only suggestion is to keep trying to contact the NBME. I'd hope that they'd give you a refund considering this whole situation is out of your control. I have a feeling this is going to turn into a case of Prometric saying contact NBME while NBME says contact Prometric.

It's already turned into that, hopefully I can talk to someone at the NBME again soon.

Are you f****** serious? That's ridiculous.

As far as when to take the exam again, just whenever you're ready again. I'm not sure how your school system works or when you're able to sit it, but it could be a huge advantage for you taking it at the end of third-year. Someone at my school got a 276 by holding out another year doing additional prep, but yet again, it really depends on your circumstances. In the end, you might be amazed at how this actually benefited you.

Unfortunately, I am serious. I can definitely see the advantage to continuing to study and that's why I decided to ask the question. I'm just not sure if I have that much left in me, haha, and wanted to see if anyone has been in a similar situation. I appreciate the advice though.

 

[Houmd]

Holy S***! That sucks bad! How ridiculous, I would want some SERIOUS explanations & accomodations from Prometric and NBME over that!

 

[3dee]

Good luck trying to get anything from the NBME :/
Youre lucky they totally lost it because a similar thing happened to me on the MCAT and the testing center told me they would let me retake that section so I didnt cancel my scores..... well, when i contacted AMCAS, they said too bad but offered to write a letter to submit with my application to explain the messed up verbal score...lol gee thanks

 

[EaglesAllDay]

Damn, thats terrible

 

[futuredoc8788]

I'm soo sorry this happened to you!

 

[rotatedline]

Good luck trying to get anything from the NBME :/
Youre lucky they totally lost it because a similar thing happened to me on the MCAT and the testing center told me they would let me retake that section so I didnt cancel my scores..... well, when i contacted AMCAS, they said too bad but offered to write a letter to submit with my application to explain the messed up verbal score...lol gee thanks

Ouch, that sounds awful. They told me it was gone, so I assume nothing like that will happen.

 

[Aclamity]

Good luck trying to get anything from the NBME :/
Youre lucky they totally lost it because a similar thing happened to me on the MCAT and the testing center told me they would let me retake that section so I didnt cancel my scores..... well, when i contacted AMCAS, they said too bad but offered to write a letter to submit with my application to explain the messed up verbal score...lol gee thanks

I have heard this happening to people on the MCAT forums, but never really heard how it all turned out (obviously it turned out alright since you're in med school haha). But out of curiosity, how did that all impact you in terms of med school admissions? Did your interviewers ever bring it up?

Personally I always thought it was ridiculous that the MCAT people try to fix the situation by writing a stupid letter, but maybe that letter has more of an impact that I can imagine.

 

[rotatedline]

So, I've been in contact with the NBME since this catastrophe and I finally heard a decision from them last week. I guess there was no way to expedite the process and they had to grade my exam the same as everyone else because i had completed 270+ questions. After over a month of waiting I was given one option and one option only. Retake the exam at no cost to me because I would have passed if I finished the exam (not too surprising). Here is my dilemma and I am hoping maybe someone can weigh in although this may be something that I should post in the residency forums.

Since I am a DO student I had to take the COMLEX as well. My score was between 630-640. If I take USMLE step 2 and forget trying to restudy for step 1, does it seem as though I am placing myself in a detrimental position for allopathic IM residencies, or will that score along with a good USMLE step 2 make up for the missing step 1? I know that is a loaded question, but it seems near impossible to re-prepare myself for step 1 after a month and a half off and I'm hoping for any advice. Thanks.

 

[Phloston]

So, I've been in contact with the NBME since this catastrophe and I finally heard a decision from them last week. I guess there was no way to expedite the process and they had to grade my exam the same as everyone else because i had completed 270+ questions. After over a month of waiting I was given one option and one option only. Retake the exam at no cost to me because I would have passed if I finished the exam (not too surprising). Here is my dilemma and I am hoping maybe someone can weigh in although this may be something that I should post in the residency forums.

Since I am a DO student I had to take the COMLEX as well. My score was between 630-640. If I take USMLE step 2 and forget trying to restudy for step 1, does it seem as though I am placing myself in a detrimental position for allopathic IM residencies, or will that score along with a good USMLE step 2 make up for the missing step 1? I know that is a loaded question, but it seems near impossible to re-prepare myself for step 1 after a month and a half off and I'm hoping for any advice. Thanks.

Trying to explain a thunderstorm having affected your Step1 score to residencies would be like trying to justify a D+ in biochemistry at your med school interview. The only thing you can do is rail Step1 by doing countless hours of practice questions from this point forward. Then, two weeks before the exam, start re-memorizing FA as hard as you can. Once again though, speed through practice questions.

 

[rotatedline]

Trying to explain a thunderstorm having affected your Step1 score to residencies would be like trying to justify a D+ in biochemistry at your med school interview. The only thing you can do is rail Step1 by doing countless hours of practice questions from this point forward. Then, two weeks before the exam, start re-memorizing FA as hard as you can. Once again though, speed through practice questions.

I mean, that obviously sounds ideal. However, I'm in the middle of my surgery rotation trying to prepare for that exam and not look like an idiot during surgery. I just do not have the time to rip out questions, that's why I was asking about using the COMLEX for step 1 and then using the USMLE for step 2 as a way to balance the situation. I appreciate the advice though.

 

[3dee]

I have heard this happening to people on the MCAT forums, but never really heard how it all turned out (obviously it turned out alright since you're in med school haha). But out of curiosity, how did that all impact you in terms of med school admissions? Did your interviewers ever bring it up?

Personally I always thought it was ridiculous that the MCAT people try to fix the situation by writing a stupid letter, but maybe that letter has more of an impact that I can imagine.

Sorry, just saw this. I ended up retaking it after that happened. And two interviewers did bring it up by saying "what happened?"

 

[3dee]

So, I've been in contact with the NBME since this catastrophe and I finally heard a decision from them last week. I guess there was no way to expedite the process and they had to grade my exam the same as everyone else because i had completed 270+ questions. After over a month of waiting I was given one option and one option only. Retake the exam at no cost to me because I would have passed if I finished the exam (not too surprising). Here is my dilemma and I am hoping maybe someone can weigh in although this may be something that I should post in the residency forums.

Since I am a DO student I had to take the COMLEX as well. My score was between 630-640. If I take USMLE step 2 and forget trying to restudy for step 1, does it seem as though I am placing myself in a detrimental position for allopathic IM residencies, or will that score along with a good USMLE step 2 make up for the missing step 1? I know that is a loaded question, but it seems near impossible to re-prepare myself for step 1 after a month and a half off and I'm hoping for any advice. Thanks.

man that really sucks. Im sorry that this happened to you. I think most allopathic residencies want to see your step 1 score so it might be detrimental to the application process if you dont have one :/

 

[linkin06]

heard a similar story. squirrel committed suicide on the electric wires causing a power outage. people had to retake :/