Difference between in house vs NBME finals?

[MomJeansandDadJorts]

Is there a concencus as to which exam is better for students? I have an acceptance to a school that uses in house exams with “STEP style” questions and WL at 2 schools that use the NBME subject exams for class finals. I’m trying to evaluate the pros and cons of each school and am kinda confused as to which testing method is more beneficial to students. I heard that NBME finals allow students to focus on board prep material instead of having to worry about small lecture details which I see as a pro but have also heard the exams tend to be more difficult (from a school that has a H/P/F grading system).

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[Goro]

With the NBME exams that we use, Faculty can pick and choose not only the subject areas, but also the questions themselves. So there's no escaping minutiae.

The benefit tot he NBME exam is that you see what the real things are like.

If you're getting Faculty-written Board style questions, you'll be fine.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

NBME exams all the way. The material is simply "easier" to study for as it is standardized. Yeah you still get minutia like @Goro mentions but at least it will be on a topic that will be in your study materials and not some random off the wall piece of research minutia.

 

[MerYangBey]

In house questions can be a nightmare of useless junk. I’m not saying all schools are like that but I would take nbme over in house any day.

(Obviously that’s not a reason to choose one school over another but it is something to consider overall)

 

[puahate]

Is this something I can ask about during interviews without looking weird?

 

[MerYangBey]

Is this something I can ask about during interviews without looking weird?

When I interviewed at places they usually had current Med students talk to us at some point. It wouldn’t be weird to casually ask what the examinations are like while inquiring about the curriculum in general.

 

[ciestar]

My school does a mix of in-house and NBME. I generally prefer NBME because I study better/more efficiently from textbooks and board materials, and it's nice to get an idea of where you stand score-wise compared to most med students so you know where your weak spots are and where to focus come dedicated time. Generally, the questions are better-written but there have been some crap ones. But there are def issues with NBME exams as well.
- You can still get random minutiae as others have mentioned which were not necessarily emphasized in lecture or review materials, whereas in my experience the minutiae from in-house exams were at least discussed to a reasonable extent
- Some of the NBME questions are based on out-of-date guidelines (looking at you, OBGYN)
- You do not have the chance to review the test or protest questions after an NBME exam, so you have no idea what you got wrong and you can't really learn from the exam

However, for a few courses we had really well-done in-house exams. Questions were super well written and fairly similar to NBME questions, the subjects tested were extremely fair and representative of what was emphasized in lecture, and we had the chance to review the exam afterward. And to be fair, my school does a really solid job of focusing lectures on topics that are relevant to patient care and/or the boards, and avoiding the esoteric "let's talk about the nitty gritty details of my research" stuff. If we could have had all of our exams be in-house at that level of quality, I think I would have preferred it to NBME.

Idk how it is for all NBME exams but the practice shelf exams now allow you to see what you got right and wrong with the correct answers.

 

[ciestar]

That's correct, I was talking about the actual exams, not the practice ones.

Ah, yes. And those “reports” you receive are useless.