Curious

[ChoroidPlexus]

How many questions can you get wrong on the real thing and still score >230, is it like 100 questions wrong (with the experimental ones removed), or less?? 100 questions out of 350 seems like a lot of lee-way, dont you agree?

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[02115]

I don't know but on NBME form 3 I got at least 15-18 wrong per section and scored a 490 (416), so I think maybe for the real thing you could get up to 80 wrong and still get a good score.

The way I think about it is:
1) If the test seems too easy then I'm messing up everywhere and need to be very careful about definitions

2) On each section if I have extra time I think to myself, well I must have made at least 15 errors here, can I try to find them

 

[ChoroidPlexus]

Don't you mean a 216, not a 416? If a test is easier, is it harder to do well on, vs if the form you get seems more difficult??

 

[02115]

Oh, yes, I meant a 216. If I got a 416, well Mass General Neurosurgery here I come! My general feeling is that if the test seems easy it's bad. On the Prometric practice test, I noticed that the sections where I was thinking this is a piece of cake I did the worst on, whereas the ones that felt like my brain was being squeezed like a sponge I did the best on. I think the reason is that they try to trick you, and believe me I take the bait! For example, on NBME form 3 there is that spot that kind of looks like an ash leaf, so I just reflexively put "Tuberous Sclerosis" but in reality it was NF (TS spots are hypopigmented, and NF can manifest with axillary freckles-- I looked it up).

So when the test seems too easy I think waaait a minute, what am I missing here!

 

[xjacob]

True. But it is also important not to overdo it. I remember getting a moderately easy q, panicking about it thinking it is a trick, and then entering the more "sophisticated" answer that turned out to be wrong.
So yeah, if you are getting 30 easy questions per block, think twice - you are prob. missing something. But there ARE going to be some questions that are incredibly easy, so don't avoid the "obvious answer" at all costs.

Regarding 416 on Step 1...I am never sure how the test is scored, but if I am right in thinking that 300 is the max, then getting 416 would probably not get you into mass general...more like a fraud committee