Can't believe it

[Sarah1980]

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Score improved from NBME 4 ( 390 ) to 400 ( NBME 1 ) ..ie from 190 to 192..progress ? ..😡..everyone says the improve 10 , 20 points I improved 2 points ....exam is in 2 months ...moved it back to end of may ...
any suggetsions ?
well behavioral i had a star on the right side went down to borderline/low
biochem went down
cardio went from borderline to star on the right ( i worked on this the most )
physio is borderline...
so is path ..borderline ..
seems like when one system goes up ...a new weakness emerges ..
Crazy 😳😳😳😳

 

[Sarah1980]

Score improved from NBME 4 ( 390 ) to 400 ( NBME 1 ) ..ie from 190 to 192..progress ? ..😡..everyone says the improve 10 , 20 points I improved 2 points ....exam is in 2 months ...moved it back to end of may ...
any suggetsions ?
well behavioral i had a star on the right side went down to borderline/low
biochem went down
cardio went from borderline to star on the right ( i worked on this the most )
physio is borderline...
so is path ..borderline ..
seems like when one system goes up ...a new weakness emerges ..
Crazy 😳😳😳😳

even stranger ..took NBME 3 just now ...310 ..166
NBME 4 390
NBME 1 400
NBME 3 310

is there any science behind the nbme's ?

 

[superoxide]

even stranger ..took NBME 3 just now ...310 ..166
NBME 4 390
NBME 1 400
NBME 3 310

is there any science behind the nbme's ?

I would be most concerned about the borderline performances on the Physio and Path sections. Those two are probably the most tested ones on the exam.

I thought the following were helpful when I was studying for Step 1. You have 2 months to take it. That's PLENTY of time to improve.

Physio: I would listen to the kaplan videos. They are excellent. A bit dry, but well worth the drag. I listened to the cardio, endocrine and renal lectures TWICE.

Path: Do Robbins Review Qbook. The questions are hard, but they really help. I believe there are 1200 questions. I did the whole book TWICE. The first time I was getting scores in the 50s. I took notes on everything. Then re-did all the questions. Scores went up to 70s-80s. For the questions I would still get wrong, or if I knew that the answer was "b", but if I couldn't explain WHY it was "b" I made a separate sheet of extreme high yield notes (just 1-2 pages)
Have you listened to the Goljan audio lectures? They're great to listen to when you are sick of doing questions or listening to lectures or reading. I also recommend the Goljan Rapid Review Path book. There's a new edition since I took Step 1. Some excellent (very high yield) info in that book.

Biochem: Listen to the Kaplan lectures for the metabolism stuff (all the gluconeogenesis, glycolysis stuff). The guy goes through it step by step. I finally "understood" the cycles instead of just memorizing them like I did during basic sciences.

Good luck

 

[Sarah1980]

I would be most concerned about the borderline performances on the Physio and Path sections. Those two are probably the most tested ones on the exam.

I thought the following were helpful when I was studying for Step 1. You have 2 months to take it. That's PLENTY of time to improve.

Physio: I would listen to the kaplan videos. They are excellent. A bit dry, but well worth the drag. I listened to the cardio, endocrine and renal lectures TWICE.

Path: Do Robbins Review Qbook. The questions are hard, but they really help. I believe there are 1200 questions. I did the whole book TWICE. The first time I was getting scores in the 50s. I took notes on everything. Then re-did all the questions. Scores went up to 70s-80s. For the questions I would still get wrong, or if I knew that the answer was "b", but if I couldn't explain WHY it was "b" I made a separate sheet of extreme high yield notes (just 1-2 pages)
Have you listened to the Goljan audio lectures? They're great to listen to when you are sick of doing questions or listening to lectures or reading. I also recommend the Goljan Rapid Review Path book. There's a new edition since I took Step 1. Some excellent (very high yield) info in that book.

Biochem: Listen to the Kaplan lectures for the metabolism stuff (all the gluconeogenesis, glycolysis stuff). The guy goes through it step by step. I finally "understood" the cycles instead of just memorizing them like I did during basic sciences.

Good luck

Thank you sooo much . YOu are a GOD SEND . I was JUST thinking of cancelling the exam ...😳

 

[superoxide]

Thank you sooo much . YOu are a GOD SEND . I was JUST thinking of cancelling the exam ...😳

You're welcome. Also, are you doing USMLEWorld questions? I was just browsing through your past posts and I think you're concentrating on kaplan Qbank (??) If that's the case, I would switch to UW. I never used UW for Step 1 (the Step1 Q bank was still quite new), but it seems like UW questions are much more representative of the current test. You can get a 2 month subscription (it's much cheaper than Kaplan). Do 100 questions a day. Take notes. Then redo all the incorrect ones and the ones you got right (but by guessing). Do the questions in untimed, tutor mode and subject based(not mixed). I'm doing that for Step 2 and it makes a huge difference. You stay on one subject at a time and the concepts are repeated. By doing questions in subject based format, you will see the same concept repeated much earlier and it will stick better. This is the time for you to LEARN the material. Use the NBME tests to get used to the mixed, random format.

I also recommend doing the NBME tests in tutor mode and starting it early in the day (like 9AM). I'm studying for Step 2 and started with NBME 1 at around 5PM in tutor mode. Didn't finish till midnight. Took breaks in between etc. My brain definitely wasn't functioning past 9PM. You can take the last NBME a few days before your test date in timed mode just to get used to it.

 

[Terpskins99]

even stranger ..took NBME 3 just now ...310 ..166
NBME 4 390
NBME 1 400
NBME 3 310

is there any science behind the nbme's ?

I keep telling people that form 3 is the hardest. But nobody seems to believe me! 😡

 

[HIJay]

i believe you

 

[waterlily]

I've taken an NBME form each week for the past 3 weeks, and I'm hovering around the same exact score range without increasing in score. The general advice people usually give is to focus in your weak areas. But it seems as though my weak areas change for every test, depending on how long ago I reviewed the topic. For example, I'll get a star in one area, and then the next test, I'm waayy below average. I'm like that for several subjects. Any advice on how I can raise my score??? I'm in the final stretch of cramming before the exam.

 

[It'sElectric]

even stranger ..took NBME 3 just now ...310 ..166
NBME 4 390
NBME 1 400
NBME 3 310

is there any science behind the nbme's ?

My advice - Quit taking NBMEs for now! You're 2 months out, and you've already taken 3 NBMEs. Your "hardcore" studying still has yet to come (I'm assuming), so you have plenty of time to improve. I would've taken an initial NBME to gauge where I'm at, then work from there.

Do NOT stress yourself out w/ these NBMEs when you have so much studying ahead of you.

 

[ertugrul]

It's better not to waste all NBMEs -you have one left. İf I were you, I would use last one when 2 weeks left. Just manage the temptation to gauge your score improvement in such a short time period.
I first take form 1 and got 460, there were ~2 weeks left and I was little freaked. I just skimmed FA in 2-3 days then take second one and got 470. I was expecting better score in fist try and I thought that I did something wrong (eg I got it in evening, I finished test too quickly etc; mature defense mechanisms 😀 ). One week later I somehow "discover" that I did 75% and 76% in first two forms and done third form with 80%. I actually didn't study molecular stuff during that time, I think this improvement is due to underrepresented molecular stuff in form 1&2 and fair representation in third one; I was particularly stronger in molecular area. I got 90/217 in real exam, so NBMEs are golden 🙂