Freaking out after taking NBME

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dr.sartorius

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Took NBME 13 2 days ago, got a 290. I'm very worried, I've been studying over the last few months through school and recently started dedicated. I feel like 13 hit a lot of the topics that I have yet to cover: Pharm, behavioral, psych, and neuro, but still I figured I might have been passing by now with what I do know. My exam is scheduled for early June, but I do have the option of pushing it back a few more weeks. My goal is to score in the 230's, I'd be happy with average. Is there any hope for that or is my only option pushing my exam back. So far I've done 60% of DIT, 70% of Uworld, and annotating in First Aid along with those sources (it's hard for me to just sit there and read FA). I've been watching pathoma all semester but have not finished a few of the last chapters.
 
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Took NBME 13 2 days ago, got a 290. I'm very worried, I've been studying over the last few months through school and recently started dedicated. I feel like 13 hit a lot of the topics that I have yet to cover: Pharm, behavioral, psych, and neuro, but still I figured I might have been passing by now with what I do know. My exam is scheduled for early June, but I do have the option of pushing it back a few more weeks. My goal is to score in the 230's, I'd be happy with average. Is there any hope for that or is my only option pushing my exam back. So far I've done 60% of DIT, 70% of Uworld, and annotating in First Aid along with those sources (it's hard for me to just sit there and read FA). I've been watching pathoma all semester but have not finished a few of the last chapters.

Do my eyes deceive me or did you mean to put a 190 at the beginning of that paragraph
 
The grading scale is different for the NBME, that 290 basically translates to low 180s for USMLE.

Ahh okay I misunderstood you, I thought that you were saying that your actual score was a 290 in which case I would **** bricks. Alright, now that that's out of the way. To get to your point, if you are currently scoring in the 180's, I don't know how realistic it is to get to your GOAL score of 230s in what I'm assuming is 3-4 weeks. Now, would you be able to pass? Absolutely, but you're doing yourself a disservice to not maximize the amount of time that is available to you.

As far as what you do with the remaining time, whether you push back your exam date or not, my advice is to hit the first aid super hard. It's completely reasonable for people to take a practice test at the beginning of their dedicated and not have the greatest score. While it may be true that you've been doing some studying here and there, your dedicated time is a completely different animal in that you're studying ONLY boards relevant material and seeing similar concepts over and over again (not to mention repetition in getting through the material); it's extremely difficult to study for boards during the school year and retain all that information when you aren't really studying it day-in and day-out.

While I do agree with you that first aid is tough to digest and can be mind-numbingly boring to read for hours on end, the fact of the matter is you need to know or at least be familiar with the material that is in there, which only comes through repetition. You haven't finished a "first-pass", so you need to get through that material. After that, identifying areas of weakness and understanding WHY you get questions wrong is important. For me, I mark down things while reading through first aid that I don't remember from the last time and put it into a powerpoint and review that at the end of the study; it can help some of the more mundane topics stick (not that I have a great memory, but I can become familiar enough with the material to make an educated assumption). If I get a question wrong in uworld or on an NBME I review the concept, if it's not in first aid and not really relevant to any section, I take notes on what I think is the main concept. If it IS in first aid and I just didn't remember the information you can bet your ass I find a way to not miss that information again. But it comes down to what works well for you and what has gotten you this far.

Hope some of this helps you out, cheers!
 
Ahh okay I misunderstood you, I thought that you were saying that your actual score was a 290 in which case I would **** bricks. Alright, now that that's out of the way. To get to your point, if you are currently scoring in the 180's, I don't know how realistic it is to get to your GOAL score of 230s in what I'm assuming is 3-4 weeks. Now, would you be able to pass? Absolutely, but you're doing yourself a disservice to not maximize the amount of time that is available to you.

As far as what you do with the remaining time, whether you push back your exam date or not, my advice is to hit the first aid super hard. It's completely reasonable for people to take a practice test at the beginning of their dedicated and not have the greatest score. While it may be true that you've been doing some studying here and there, your dedicated time is a completely different animal in that you're studying ONLY boards relevant material and seeing similar concepts over and over again (not to mention repetition in getting through the material); it's extremely difficult to study for boards during the school year and retain all that information when you aren't really studying it day-in and day-out.

While I do agree with you that first aid is tough to digest and can be mind-numbingly boring to read for hours on end, the fact of the matter is you need to know or at least be familiar with the material that is in there, which only comes through repetition. You haven't finished a "first-pass", so you need to get through that material. After that, identifying areas of weakness and understanding WHY you get questions wrong is important. For me, I mark down things while reading through first aid that I don't remember from the last time and put it into a powerpoint and review that at the end of the study; it can help some of the more mundane topics stick (not that I have a great memory, but I can become familiar enough with the material to make an educated assumption). If I get a question wrong in uworld or on an NBME I review the concept, if it's not in first aid and not really relevant to any section, I take notes on what I think is the main concept. If it IS in first aid and I just didn't remember the information you can bet your ass I find a way to not miss that information again. But it comes down to what works well for you and what has gotten you this far.

Hope some of this helps you out, cheers!


Thank you for your input I think the powerpoint idea is something that can work for me, I end up annotating but never really going back to see the info but I think forcing myself to go back is what's gonna make a big difference for me. I can push the test back 3-4 weeks which I am considering since I am looking to do more than just pass this exam.
 
Thank you for your input I think the powerpoint idea is something that can work for me, I end up annotating but never really going back to see the info but I think forcing myself to go back is what's gonna make a big difference for me. I can push the test back 3-4 weeks which I am considering since I am looking to do more than just pass this exam.

You're welcome! There's not really a dirty secret or anything to getting through the material, it has sucked in the past, it sucks now, and will continue to suck. Dragging yourself through this much information is a marathon, and there's no easy way to do it. Powerpoint works for me (although it sucks you can't randomize it), anki works for other people, I know people that make studyblue flash cards too. Drugs were a weakness of mine as well; so I made a powerpoint of all the drugs in first aid and quiz myself over a chapter of drugs (i.e. gastro drugs) at lunch and a different one at night which has also really helped for me.

Finding a way that you know will work for you PERSONALLY is all you can do, because at the end of day we're all randos that probably learn very differently from each other. But really, you NEED that time to get through multiple passes of the material, there isn't a way around that unless you were blessed with a ridiculous memory. I know I can't learn something unless I see it 4-5 times. Just work your ass off and give yourself the best chance of scoring well; you'll hate it, but you'll love yourself later for doing it.
 
For psych/behavioral stuff read BRS..you can get through it pretty quick. For drugs..if you just learn what is in FA that should be adequate for an average score. For neuro, watch all the pathoma videos tomorrow on higher speed and then read the FA chapter a few times and you will have all the info you need for it. Since you haven't covered that stuff yet really it might be better to push the test back a week or 2.
 
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