Help, which NBME to take next?

[osumc2014]

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I took 7 already. I am about 2 weeks out, I want to take some of the newer ones, out of 11, 12, and 13 which one's the best? (I'm going to take 2 of them). Which one's a confidence builder and which one's the most difficult?

thanks!!

 

[lrkoehle]

I took 11 a week after 7 and dropped 2 points (not a significant difference), but I felt like 11 was trickier to me. It's totally subjective though based on your own strengths and weaknesses. I take 12 on Saturday and 13 the week after, so I can only comment on 11.

 

[Phlame217]

I took 7 about 8 weeks out, followed by 11 3 weeks out. I plan on taking 13 3 days before.

11 was somewhat tricky but was fair. I scored better on 11 over 7, but I completed UW in-between. 13 from what I hear is the closest predictor to your score so it will give me my material to cram for 3 days before the test.

 

[thinkenergy]

If you have time, take all of them. IMO they are all equally predictive of your actual score. However from what recent posts it seems that actual STEP is more conceptual and questions stems are longer that those on NBMEs, in terms of content/style, UWorld most closely resemble STEP. Most people would go through UWorld 2nd pass. I am currently doing 7-8 blocks of 46 questions a day, hopefully I can finish by next Tuesday. Then I will do some NBMEs and UWorld SA #2. I'm saving those for last. My exam is in 1 week.

 

[Aclamity]

I've heard 13 is pretty hard. Do people feel like they've been scoring similarly on 13 as on the other ones? I'm definitely taking 7 soon, but was contemplating about 13 for fear of killing my confidence too close to exam time

OP: FWIW I thought 12 was harder than 11, but both seemed pretty fair to me

 

[ipizzy]

I've heard 13 is pretty hard. Do people feel like they've been scoring similarly on 13 as on the other ones? I'm definitely taking 7 soon, but was contemplating about 13 for fear of killing my confidence too close to exam time

OP: FWIW I thought 12 was harder than 11, but both seemed pretty fair to me

Harder test = nicer curve. I thought 13 (for me) required noticeably more thought than 11 and 12 and thus might be more representative of the kinds of questions on the actual exam (which SDN people have been saying is more conceptual). In any case, my predicted scores for 11, 12, and 13 all fell within a 5 point range and though 13 felt the hardest, it was my highest score of those three.

 

[metallica81788]

I took 7 about five days after 13 and improved 14 points. I thought 13 was harder, but not by much. Taking 12 tomorrow so I guess I'll see whether that boost was just from taking 7 instead of the newer ones.