Advise Please

[MedStudent36]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys,

I made a new user ID, because mine isn't very secretive. I need some advice.

I took NBME 7 today and did terribly (210). I'm confused by this because I'm averaging around 70% recently in UWorld (so my avg overall is around 66%). Additionally, that's what I got on my practice NMBE from the school in mid April so I would expect a decent amount of improvement from that. According to the score converters I've seen floating around this website my UWorld percentage would put me higher. I realize it wouldn't put me SDN superstar level, but I wasn't expecting 210 level bad either.

My exam is in 18 days. I guess I could push it back, but I could really use the break before third year.

Do you guys recommend I hammer the questions harder or spend more time with First Aid? I haven't finished UWorld yet, and my schedule has me finishing it before I take the exam, but not quickly enough to go through much of it again.

I have read First Aid through a few times as well as followed along with it during second year. But, I'm not very good at retaining facts from just First Aid reading apparently.

Does anyone have an advice or suggestions?

 

[johndoe3344]

Hey guys,

I made a new user ID, because mine isn't very secretive. I need some advice.

I took NBME 7 today and did terribly (210). I'm confused by this because I'm averaging around 70% recently in UWorld (so my avg overall is around 66%). Additionally, that's what I got on my practice NMBE from the school in mid April so I would expect a decent amount of improvement from that. According to the score converters I've seen floating around this website my UWorld percentage would put me higher. I realize it wouldn't put me SDN superstar level, but I wasn't expecting 210 level bad either.

My exam is in 18 days. I guess I could push it back, but I could really use the break before third year.

Do you guys recommend I hammer the questions harder or spend more time with First Aid? I haven't finished UWorld yet, and my schedule has me finishing it before I take the exam, but not quickly enough to go through much of it again.

I have read First Aid through a few times as well as followed along with it during second year. But, I'm not very good at retaining facts from just First Aid reading apparently.

Does anyone have an advice or suggestions?

What are your problem areas? Do you have one or two sections that you did extremely poor in? What about in the UW cumulative question review -- any particularly weak sections? I would work on those first. If there are areas that you did very poorly in despite having finished reading the same amount in FA as everything else, then I would suggest supplementing with an additional resource (goljian, pathoma, kaplan, etc.)

Additionally, when you finished NBME 7, why were you getting questions wrong?

Are they questions that you simply didn't know the facts? (e.g. baclofen is a GABA_B agonist used for spasticity). In this case, I would suggest pounding out more UW/Rx/pathoma/other supplemental resource, since these are things that no matter how much more you read FA, you probably won't be able to get them as they're not covered.

Are they questions that you read about but didn't remember/wasn't able to integrate properly? (e.g. presentation of Kawasaki disease but you just weren't able to put together rash on palms + strawberry oral mucosa). In that case, I would suggest 1) doing more UW questions, but 2) also doing additional reviews of key concepts from FA. Being more familiar with the material definitely helps you be able to integrate things together in your head.

Etc.

Don't think about pushing back the exam. Think about learning as much as you can in the next week or week and a half, and taking another NBME at the end of it. Hopefully if you do really intense studying in that time, you won't have to push the exam back.

 

[jatt12]

If you think you are not ready move your exam, there is nothing worse then passing with minimum score, or having failure. It's your exam and you know better, if you think you would need more time to study take your time.

Good luck

 

[mdeast]

Hey guys,

I made a new user ID, because mine isn't very secretive. I need some advice.

I took NBME 7 today and did terribly (210). I'm confused by this because I'm averaging around 70% recently in UWorld (so my avg overall is around 66%). Additionally, that's what I got on my practice NMBE from the school in mid April so I would expect a decent amount of improvement from that. According to the score converters I've seen floating around this website my UWorld percentage would put me higher. I realize it wouldn't put me SDN superstar level, but I wasn't expecting 210 level bad either.

My exam is in 18 days. I guess I could push it back, but I could really use the break before third year.

Do you guys recommend I hammer the questions harder or spend more time with First Aid? I haven't finished UWorld yet, and my schedule has me finishing it before I take the exam, but not quickly enough to go through much of it again.

I have read First Aid through a few times as well as followed along with it during second year. But, I'm not very good at retaining facts from just First Aid reading apparently.

Does anyone have an advice or suggestions?

I'd say....study hard. Memorize facts. Pound things out. Do lots of UWorld. Take a practice exam 6 days before your exam. If you're unhappy with your results (i.e. it's still 210)...then postpone the exam. This will only cost $50 vs. waiting until the day before your exam. If you're not. Then take it and be happy that you'll never have to deal with Step 1 again.

You'll be surprised how fast your scores can go up. For instance...
NBME (4 weeks to exam): 212.
NBME (3 weeks to exam): 228
NBME (2 weeks to exam): 235
NBME (1 week to exam): 247

 

[peace zealot]

You'll be surprised how fast your scores can go up. For instance...
NBME (4 weeks to exam): 212.
NBME (3 weeks to exam): 228
NBME (2 weeks to exam): 235
NBME (1 week to exam): 247

That is really helpful, I am 5 weeks out and scored a 217 on NBME 11 yesterday and I was wondering its near impossible that I would score a 240. Can you elaborate a little bit what have you done to improve your scores that much, I mean your daily routine etc. That would be helpful for me, at least I would know I am on the right path.

 

[mdeast]

That is really helpful, I am 5 weeks out and scored a 217 on NBME 11 yesterday and I was wondering its near impossible that I would score a 240. Can you elaborate a little bit what have you done to improve your scores that much, I mean your daily routine etc. That would be helpful for me, at least I would know I am on the right path.

Hammer out First Aid + UWorld/Kaplan. I'm about 65% reading, 35% questions everyday...interdispersed as 46 blocks random, timed tutor or test mode throughout the day as a break from reading.

I think I've been through First Aid about 4 times now. Each pass has been quicker, just focusing on weak points with Pathoma/etc. Also, constant repetition of drugs/bugs/etc. has been very helpful. I actually spent about 30 minutes just going through First Aid and writing down page #'s of tables/concepts I was weak on and have been trying to go over those specific pages for at least an hour everyday. You really need to buckle down and target those annoying concepts you know you're weak on but haven't mastered. I think that was my initial problem studying= spending too much time on my strong points, while neglecting all the things I didn't know. It's painful, but after a point, certain subjects that are solely fact based (i.e. bugs/drugs/biochem) become the easy exam questions...leaving you more time to reason out the tricky path or phys questions. Also, about 5-10% of test questions will be biostats/behavioral science/psych. This is actually a big chunk of the exam when you think about it. These are easy points and once you do enough practice questions and read through First Aid a few times, these questions become practical gimmees. I think people don't spend enough time on this section (UWorld percentages being so low for some of these questions), so it can be an easy way to differentiate yourself on the exam from people who glanced over it.

Also, grab your hands on old NBMEs to do as practice questions. It's amazing some of the test patterns I've seen on things that they always ask. (i.e. free-radicals, complement, arachidonic acid products/prostaglandins/leukotrienes, pregnant women, homeless people, drug overdoses, etc.). You can also gauge by the answer choices what prototypical drugs from each class they like to include on exams to save you some time on memorizing.

5 weeks is PLENTY OF TIME. I knew practically nothing 5 weeks ago. Believe me.

 

[MedStudent36]

Just as an update. I pounded out some of weaker sections in First Aid (straight up reading, hardly any questions in the past two days; I probably did 12 hours of reading on Monday and Tuesday) and then did a UWorld Self Assessment today.

I know those over predict but I'm hoping the bad exam on Sunday was just a fluke (I was sick so I suppose it's possible) b/c I got 236 this morning. I know there's no way my score rose 26 points in two days.

My exam is the 7th. If I can get 240+ I'll be thrilled. I'm looking at anesthesiology as of now, so breaking 240 will really help me with having location choices.

Just wanted to give encouragement because there have been a lot of bad NBME threads lately.