comprehensive basic sciences exam scores

[reedman]

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Can anyone clue me in on how much improvement can be expected if one took the NMBE before studying full-on for step one? I got a projected score of 215 on the NMBE after finishing 95% of 2nd year and reading relevant sections of first aid along with classes. How much could I expect to improve after 6 weeks of intense studying? If I could improve say 30-35 points I would end up more competitive that I ever thought I would be, and may adjust my residency plans accordingly. Is that realistic?

 

[Scared2011]

Hey that is totally realistic! you can easily make 240! you just have to work on your weaknesses and do tonz of questions (more NBMEs) and you are good to go 🙂

 

[unsung]

There's a thread somewhere around here of someone who got like 180 (iirc), then got 250+ on real thing.

Entirely possible.

 

[engineeredout]

Anyone know how predictive the NBME basic sciences shelf actually is for scores?

 

[reedman]

another question:

do yall think is it harder to improve if you start out higher? it looks like my class improves by 30 points, from a projected 185 to an average of 220-ish on the real step 1. if i add 35 points to my score i'm pretty darn happy. i'm wondering if it is easier to improve by that much when the first score was lower?

 

[RySerr21]

another question:

do yall think is it harder to improve if you start out higher? it looks like my class improves by 30 points, from a projected 185 to an average of 220-ish on the real step 1. if i add 35 points to my score i'm pretty darn happy. i'm wondering if it is easier to improve by that much when the first score was lower?

yes its obviously harder to improve the higher your score goes....if you are getting a 180, there are some serious gaps in your knowledge, gaps that can be easily closed with some study time. In this case, 30 points improvement is definitely possible. If you are at 230, you already have a really solid understanding of most if not all of the subjects. The details and questions you are missing arent major concepts, they are little details. Its gonna be much harder to go 30 points up from 230 than it would be to go 30 points up from 180....not that its impossible, but its just a different type of studying at that point. at some point, its just kinda luck how high your score goes.

 

[justdoit31]

Our class average was predicted at around 190 on our CBSE 4 months out- we were given a 1 week break to study for it (I would say maybe half the people actually studied a lot, I didn't study at all because my mom as in the hospital the whole week and I was with her)- we usually have a class average on STEP of 225 so that's a pretty good jump.

I'm praying my predicted score was more because I wasn't focused (mom was still in hospital and awaiting news on if she needed surgery while I was in the exam) and rushed through it. I think for me anything over 215 I would be happy with- I want to do Peds.

 

[fahimaz7]

Why are medical schools giving you a week to take a practice test? If they want to give you an idea of where you stand right now, why waste 7 days of a semester to allow you to prepare for it?

I'd be super frustrated with that.

 

[RadOncRocks]

Why are medical schools giving you a week to take a practice test? If they want to give you an idea of where you stand right now, why waste 7 days of a semester to allow you to prepare for it?

I'd be super frustrated with that.

As would I!

I believe that while the performance on this test is probably fairly representative, I've seen studies that say the closest indicator to whether you'll pass or not is your performance during the first two years of med school!

 

[ej37]

Really doubt this is a good correlation at all anymore. our school took it a few weeks ago and most people scored way higher than they had been on NBMEs/UWSA. The questions were way short- some of them only a few sentances and was for the most part all single-step reasoning. For those of you who have taken the path shelf exam this year, it was almost as straight forward as that was...

 

[justdoit31]

Why are medical schools giving you a week to take a practice test? If they want to give you an idea of where you stand right now, why waste 7 days of a semester to allow you to prepare for it?

I'd be super frustrated with that.

We are required to score over a estimated 190 to be promoted to third year- so it does count for something- but it is administered 3 times (once in March then the other 2 after classes let out). A lot of people used the week as a spring break since we don't have a spring break at all. I used it to be with my mother in the hospital.

 

[reedman]

Really doubt this is a good correlation at all anymore. our school took it a few weeks ago and most people scored way higher than they had been on NBMEs/UWSA. The questions were way short- some of them only a few sentances and was for the most part all single-step reasoning. For those of you who have taken the path shelf exam this year, it was almost as straight forward as that was...

i was afraid of that, and the possibility that some people just blew it off and skewed the average. I'm planning to purchase an exam as soon as school is out, to get a better idea of where i stand.

the practice step 1 that we take in school is different than the ones you can buy, correct?

 

[fahimaz7]

We are required to score over a estimated 190 to be promoted to third year- so it does count for something- but it is administered 3 times (once in March then the other 2 after classes let out). A lot of people used the week as a spring break since we don't have a spring break at all. I used it to be with my mother in the hospital.

You're required to pass a practice test to be promoted to third year? Are you kidding me? I would LOL @ the faculty for saying something stupid like that. The real Step 1 is where it's at, not some 15 year old test that's given on some random day at the medical school...

 

[ArcGurren]

We are required to score over a estimated 190 to be promoted to third year- so it does count for something- but it is administered 3 times (once in March then the other 2 after classes let out). A lot of people used the week as a spring break since we don't have a spring break at all. I used it to be with my mother in the hospital.

You have a minimum score? That's *awful*. It should be used as a preparation/judge of what to do for your REAL Step 1.

We had the practice test at my school as well; class average was 170-180 and I scored about 210. Same situation as you, talked to my advisor, he said scoring 30+/40+ points higher is very doable as long as you put in the hard work. I also didn't study for the exam at all... I know for a fact I missed at least 6-7 "easy" questions because it was just memorization that I hadn't gotten around to.

 

[justdoit31]

You have a minimum score? That's *awful*. It should be used as a preparation/judge of what to do for your REAL Step 1.

I don't really mind the minimum score- it basically served as a diagnostic in March as to where you stood then in May/June it is more a "can I pass tool" if you can't pass STEP then you can't do clinical rotations anyway. If you can't pass CBSE then they usually have you delay your first clerkship to give additional study time. Plus I'm glad they offer 2 versions so it is just more questions I can work though.

 

[engineeredout]

FWIW I got the same score on the NBME comprehensive basic sciences shelf that I got on NBME #6 I took a couple weeks prior.

 

[fahimaz7]

I just got my results back from our class-wide CBSE and score a 83 (232.5). I haven't really studied much yet (about 600 USMLERx questions @ totally random), and I'm thinking this is a good score.

Anyone know what's up? Anyone with a Step 1 score with a similar CBSE? Our class average was a 64 (185). National average was a 70 with a SD of 8.

Thanks!

 

[ArcGurren]

I just got my results back from our class-wide CBSE and score a 83 (232.5). I haven't really studied much yet (about 600 USMLERx questions @ totally random), and I'm thinking this is a good score.

Anyone know what's up? Anyone with a Step 1 score with a similar CBSE? Our class average was a 64 (185). National average was a 70 with a SD of 8.

Thanks!

That's a VERY good score for the CBSE. Our class average was similar.

Also 600 questions at random isn't much studying? lol

 

[medking]

I just got my results back from our class-wide CBSE and score a 83 (232.5). I haven't really studied much yet (about 600 USMLERx questions @ totally random), and I'm thinking this is a good score.

Anyone know what's up? Anyone with a Step 1 score with a similar CBSE? Our class average was a 64 (185). National average was a 70 with a SD of 8.

Thanks!

Good job!

If 600 = haven't really studied much, then yikes. You've done 3 times more that what I have done. I wonder what that makes my status, lol (really x3, i guess).

 

[fahimaz7]

That's a VERY good score for the CBSE. Our class average was similar.

Also 600 questions at random isn't much studying? lol

600 questions out of 3000 isn't very much prep. I planned on doing 1500 RX then switching to Uworld for the real prep period.

Thanks for the support though! I'm not really sure what to think about it, even though it's ~50 points above our class average. I've only been able to find a few scores around mine on the CBSE, but all of those people went on to score well over a 240, so I guess that's good!

I don't know what I want to do, but I would love to get over a 240.

 

[mrmandrake]

Hey guys, I'm taking the basic shelf tomorrow and I'm wondering how fast do we get our scores back? Thanks!

 

[fahimaz7]

Hey guys, I'm taking the basic shelf tomorrow and I'm wondering how fast do we get our scores back? Thanks!

3 weeks for us.

 

[mrmandrake]

Damn, that seems like a long time. Thanks fahimaz.

3 weeks for us.

 

[justdoit31]

Hey guys, I'm taking the basic shelf tomorrow and I'm wondering how fast do we get our scores back? Thanks!

We got ours back in 4 days (2 of the weekends)- I was surpised because usually our shelfs come back in a week or so.

 

[mrmandrake]

Hmm ... thats a pretty quick turnaround time compared to the previous poster. I wouldn't think it would vary so much. Guess I should just ask the admins. Thanks guys.

We got ours back in 4 days (2 of the weekends)- I was surpised because usually our shelfs come back in a week or so.

 

[fahimaz7]

We took a paper copy of the exam. Perhaps that's the reason?

 

[MassAttack]

My school gave us this basic science test on paper and we got the scores back in 1 week.
class average was about 200 something, I got a 223. I think it is very reasonable to expect a 20-30 point increase in your final step score. (my goal is a 240+)
If you score low (200 or lower) you can def bring your score up 30-40 points or so.
havnt got my final score yet tho....

 

[router1]

I just took this right now. Anybody else think that the easier questions were almost a joke "gimmes" and the harder questions were like "WTF did that come from" It almost seemed like for the random data interpretation questions, somebody was showing their thesis.

Also, did anyone get that ATP question right

I think it was something like 1 nM of H+ requires 7*10^-9 Kcal to be pumped across so how many ATP is required to pump out 1 ion of H+ in the gastric lumen.

And, I think I just answered my own question as I was typing this...I think the answer was 1 ATP. **** me.