NBME 17 is out...

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That's interesting. Anatomy is also not my strongest subject. Seems like there's either more focus on anatomy or just tougher anatomy questions. We'll find out as more people take it. I'll be taking it soon too..
 
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faelivrin said:
I thought it was more challenging than NBME 16 but that may be because anatomy/behavioral science are not my strong suits. My score dropped by 7 points.
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I almost wonder if you're trolling about the drop in 7 points.
 
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This is an NBME 17 spoiler question:

A man becomes lightheaded after running 12 miles of a marathon on a hot day. Pulse is 130/min and his blood pressure is 80/60 mm Hg. Which of the following changes in his autonomic nervous system most likely occurred?

It's an up/down arrow question asking for the changes in Sympathetic efferent activity and Parasympathetic efferent activity (increased/decreased/no change). I am not sure if they are asking what caused the hypotension or what? But I know that hypotension can cause increase in sympathetic efferent activity and decrease in parasympathetic efferent activity. Anyone know the answer to this question? I think it may be related to dehydration.

And for the record, the difference in my score from nbme 15 to nbme 17 was a drop in 11 points. Really bummed about that.
 
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hmmmm...if i ran 12 miles i dont think my parasympathetic would be active, dont think id wanna digest anything after that lol?
 
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The only parasympathetic efferent that I can think of that might be active after running 12 miles is the pupillary sphincter if it was sunny and he was staring into it. The hypotension is from perspiratory fluid loss +/- lactic acidosis. Either way, sympathetic nervous system will be maximally active, as evidenced by tachycardia. In this case, it is not sufficient enough to maintain BP. The dude probably didn't train enough and/or wasn't adequately hydrated before he started.
 
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I just finished NBME 17, I thought 16 was easier. My score went down 6 pts. If anyone wants to exchange answers or something that would be great.
 
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I thought it was hard, but I'm just trying to get by. I'm going to take NBME 15 next week.

NBME 15: 232|83.5% (1 week after 17)
NBME 17: 211|76.5%
UWOLRD-1: 226|64%
Free 150: 201|69%

I don't know what to think when others are devastated with a 230. Hope my scores encourage the rest.
 
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NBME 15: 256
NBME 17 (5 days after NBME 15): 260

I felt that they were (difficulty-wise) comparable exams. Definitely a lot more system-specific on 15, whereas 17 was more integrative.
 
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Took it today. I am 4 days out and i agree with the above. Pretty average overall and not as specific as 15. 13 felt easy to me and 15 felt hard with long question stems. Definitely happy I took this one as my pre game instead of 15.

17:260
15:251 (2weeks ago)
UWSA2 :256 (2 weeks ago)
UWSA1: 240 (4 weeks ago)
13:239 (5 weeks ago)
 
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step1killingme said:
I thought it was hard, but I'm just trying to get by. I'm going to take NBME 15 next week.

NBME 15: 232|83.5% (1 week after 17)
NBME 17: 211|76.5%
UWOLRD-1: 226|64%
Free 150: 201|69%

I don't know what to think when others are devastated with a 230. Hope my scores encourage the rest.
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GMSA8181 said:
NBME 15: 256
NBME 17 (5 days after NBME 15): 260

I felt that they were (difficulty-wise) comparable exams. Definitely a lot more system-specific on 15, whereas 17 was more integrative.
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shouldigomd said:
Took it today. I am 4 days out and i agree with the above. Pretty average overall and not as specific as 15. 13 felt easy to me and 15 felt hard with long question stems. Definitely happy I took this one as my pre game instead of 15.

17:260
15:251 (2weeks ago)
UWSA2 :256 (2 weeks ago)
UWSA1: 240 (4 weeks ago)
13:239 (5 weeks ago)
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May I ask why you guys didn't take 16? I'm still 7 weeks out, but trying to figure out which two to take in addition to UWSA1 and 2 and COMSAE.
 
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arewethereyet... said:
May I ask why you guys didn't take 16? I'm still 7 weeks out, but trying to figure out which two to take in addition to UWSA1 and 2 and COMSAE.
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No real reason for me. Actually this morning I was planning on doing 16 as I heard it was easier and I wanted the confidence boost. I picked 17 just to bite the bullet and go in with no expectations / its the newest test (I was saving the newest ones for last). I think 13 is a good one to start with along with the UWSA (as you can study these)... my 2c.
 
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shouldigomd said:
No real reason for me. Actually this morning I was planning on doing 16 as I heard it was easier and I wanted the confidence boost. I picked 17 just to bite the bullet and go in with no expectations / its the newest test (I was saving the newest ones for last). I think 13 is a good one to start with along with the UWSA (as you can study these)... my 2c.
Click to expand...

That makes sense, I imagine I'm going to need a confidence boost too, thanks!

Edit: and good luck- looks like you're on your way to a kick ass score!
 
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nbme 16: 530/234 (first exam before studying)
UWorld Self assessment 1: 800/265
Uworld self assessment 2: 770/263
nbme 17 : 600/249, 181/200

take the exam in a few days. the scale on the nbme exam was tough compared to the uworld self assessments. 90%+ gross gets you a 250.

anyways, good luck to everyone!

edit, 181/200, not 179/200. apparently forgot how to math.
 
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Felt like there were a ton of super straightforward questions...Then some ones off the wall (that Q about the runner with parasympathetics tripped me up too, @whatsupdoc7 ).

It was a very fair exam, IMO.
Questions felt much easier [overall] than Uworld bank.

Scored much better than on NMBE 16, but took 16 at the beginning of my study period.
So, hard to compare.

2 weeks to go!
 
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Finished the real thing yesterday. Demoralizing to say the least. I guess one can only hope the hard work pays off and you score close to practice tests... definitely doesn't feel that way. GL you guys taking it soon!
 
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Okay so I've been following SDN for the past month. I am about to take the real deal on April 24th. I've been doing pretty well on these exams.

NBME 17 was by far the most challenging I have taken (took 13, 15, 16 as well). I felt the least confident in my answers, and in general the questions required much more thinking than NBME 13 and 15. But my scores have basicall stayed the same (in the +/- 10 pts range). I feel like as long as you have studied well, your scores shouldn't really change (that is, if you take the NBMEs after having studied all sections on the exam).

Best of luck to everyone, and I hope I have the same scores on the real deal.

NBME 13 (March 28th): 680 (266)
NBME 15: (April 10th): 650 (260)
NBME 16: (April 15th): 700 (271)
NBME 17: (today, April 21st): 680 (266).
 
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took the test this week. it's hard to say without knowing my score, but i thought it felt very similar to the nbme 16 and 17, perhaps slightly harder. scoring in the end will all be relative. you have a good mix of "gimme" questions and straight challengers, with a few curve balls here and there.

good luck to everyone!
 
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Colombiano123 said:
Okay so I've been following SDN for the past month. I am about to take the real deal on April 24th. I've been doing pretty well on these exams.

NBME 17 was by far the most challenging I have taken (took 13, 15, 16 as well). I felt the least confident in my answers, and in general the questions required much more thinking than NBME 13 and 15. But my scores have basicall stayed the same (in the +/- 10 pts range). I feel like as long as you have studied well, your scores shouldn't really change (that is, if you take the NBMEs after having studied all sections on the exam).

Best of luck to everyone, and I hope I have the same scores on the real deal.

NBME 13 (March 28th): 680 (266)
NBME 15: (April 10th): 650 (260)
NBME 16: (April 15th): 700 (271)
NBME 17: (today, April 21st): 680 (266).
Click to expand...

That's interesting, I thought NBME 17 was a lot easier than 13-16. I scored 266 on it as well, but in the 240s on the rest.
 
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feathr said:
took the test this week. it's hard to say without knowing my score, but i thought it felt very similar to the nbme 16 and 17, perhaps slightly harder. scoring in the end will all be relative. you have a good mix of "gimme" questions and straight challengers, with a few curve balls here and there.

good luck to everyone!
Click to expand...

Wow you guys felt they were comparable... I felt like I knew 90% of practice tests info and 50% of the real thing lol...
 
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feathr said:
took the test this week. it's hard to say without knowing my score, but i thought it felt very similar to the nbme 16 and 17, perhaps slightly harder. scoring in the end will all be relative. you have a good mix of "gimme" questions and straight challengers, with a few curve balls here and there.

good luck to everyone!
Click to expand...

That is what I'm hoping for. The practice tests probably bump your score up a bit, given they are old questions that have been released. Thanks for the information!
 
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IceCastle said:
That's interesting, I thought NBME 17 was a lot easier than 13-16. I scored 266 on it as well, but in the 240s on the rest.
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Yeah so I don't know why that was the case for me, but it felt like it was the hardest one. It clearly wasn't, because I did the same on it than on NBME 13. And like the difference between say the 266 and the 271, was 2 extra questions right. So like at that point, I can live with that. Almost how like the difference between a 38 MCAT and a 41 MCAT was probably 3-5 questions tops.
 
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IceCastle said:
That's interesting, I thought NBME 17 was a lot easier than 13-16. I scored 266 on it as well, but in the 240s on the rest.
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I thought it felt much easier but I scored pretty similarly to my other practice exams.
 
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Hi!!
What do you think? I am extremely worry!
UWSA 1 247
UWSA 2 230
NBME 7 229
NBME 15 230
NBME 17 217

I want to score more than 225
My test date is may 4th!
should I change the date???
confused.gif
 
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got my sco
feathr said:
nbme 16: 530/234 (first exam before studying)
UWorld Self assessment 1: 800/265
Uworld self assessment 2: 770/263
nbme 17 : 600/249, 181/200

take the exam in a few days. the scale on the nbme exam was tough compared to the uworld self assessments. 90%+ gross gets you a 250.

anyways, good luck to everyone!

edit, 181/200, not 179/200. apparently forgot how to math.
Click to expand...

got my actual score back today. 254 🙂 i am very happy with it. good luck with everyone else waiting/still studying!
 
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Like several of you guys/gals, my score on 17 was 7 points lower than my previous scores. Hopefully it's just a blip and scores will go back up on the real thing! Anyone else see variation (high or lower) compared to previous NBMEs?
 
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pd1112 said:
The only parasympathetic efferent that I can think of that might be active after running 12 miles is the pupillary sphincter if it was sunny and he was staring into it. The hypotension is from perspiratory fluid loss +/- lactic acidosis. Either way, sympathetic nervous system will be maximally active, as evidenced by tachycardia. In this case, it is not sufficient enough to maintain BP. The dude probably didn't train enough and/or wasn't adequately hydrated before he started.
Click to expand...

I think the answer to this question is no change in SANS and decrease in PANS. Decreased PANS activity will result in tachycardia (because of sympathetic tone). If the answer was increased SANS, then his BP would probably be higher than 80/60. So parasympathetic tone on the heart is lost --> tachycardia. SANS doesn't improve --> maintained hypotension.

But then again, 130 is really high without SANS input. So maybe it is increased SANS.
 
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seminoma said:
I think the answer to this question is no change in SANS and decrease in PANS. Decreased PANS activity will result in tachycardia (because of sympathetic tone). If the answer was increased SANS, then his BP would probably be higher than 80/60. So parasympathetic tone on the heart is lost --> tachycardia. SANS doesn't improve --> maintained hypotension.

But then again, 130 is really high without SANS input. So maybe it is increased SANS.
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So you ended up taking this one, huh? The answer to that one was increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic. Didn't show up in my incorrects.
 
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dfib slim said:
So you ended up taking this one, huh? The answer to that one was increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic. Didn't show up in my incorrects.
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Yea gonna do 16 last. What about the bad news patient? And the patient you were late for?
 
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dfib slim said:
Bad news was tell them straight up and the other was say sorry but don't make an excuse.
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Cool, but for the late one there were two answers like that. One was sorry I'm late. Why don't we reschedule? The other was sorry I was delayed. I hope I haven't made you late somewhere else.
 
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seminoma said:
Cool, but for the late one there were two answers like that. One was sorry I'm late. Why don't we reschedule? The other was sorry I was delayed. I hope I haven't made you late somewhere else.
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It was the second one. For the first one I'd be pissed if my doc was late then said "why don't we just reschedule".
 
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dfib slim said:
It was the second one. For the first one I'd be pissed if my doc was late then said "why don't we just reschedule".
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Damn I picked the first one. I think in school they told us to offer the patient an opportunity to make a new appointment. I thought it sounded bad too, but I thought maybe the second one gave them an opportunity to complain more rather than sticking to the task at hand (their appointment with you).
 
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whatsupdoc7 said:
This is an NBME 17 spoiler question:

A man becomes lightheaded after running 12 miles of a marathon on a hot day. Pulse is 130/min and his blood pressure is 80/60 mm Hg. Which of the following changes in his autonomic nervous system most likely occurred?

It's an up/down arrow question asking for the changes in Sympathetic efferent activity and Parasympathetic efferent activity (increased/decreased/no change). I am not sure if they are asking what caused the hypotension or what? But I know that hypotension can cause increase in sympathetic efferent activity and decrease in parasympathetic efferent activity. Anyone know the answer to this question? I think it may be related to dehydration.

And for the record, the difference in my score from nbme 15 to nbme 17 was a drop in 11 points. Really bummed about that.
Click to expand...

I really dont think that in humans(alive humans) sympathetic activity will cause hypotension, lol

Pulse 130 - due to increased sympathetic activity
More muscles contractions + high temperature - increased hypothalamic activity(major controller of ANS) - to sympathetic - increased sweating
+ increased sympathetic activity will constrict arteriols wich will lead to hypertension, but due to severe lack of fluid(12 km) - hypertension cannot be maintained.

Parasympathetic goes down because it can
 
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I received my step 1 score today. But I thought I'd post this for anyone wondering about their upcoming exam.
While I am not as smart as many of you, here is my experience.
10 days out from my test, I took the NBME for 15 and scored a 198. 5 days out from the test, I took the NBME 17 and scored a 200.

My result today showed I got a 217 (17 points higher than my form 17 score from 5 days prior).
Take this for what it's worth and I wish you guys good luck in further studying!
 
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ucmd2018 said:
I received my step 1 score today. But I thought I'd post this for anyone wondering about their upcoming exam.
While I am not as smart as many of you, here is my experience.
10 days out from my test, I took the NBME for 15 and scored a 198. 5 days out from the test, I took the NBME 17 and scored a 200.

My result today showed I got a 217 (17 points higher than my form 17 score from 5 days prior).
Take this for what it's worth and I wish you guys good luck in further studying!
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wow thats amazing... first of all Congrats. I'm writing mine in 2 days .. i have similar scores to u but slightly higher. in the 205-209 range. i would be thrilled if i scored higher than 210 in the real deal.
 
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curry00 said:
wow thats amazing... first of all Congrats. I'm writing mine in 2 days .. i have similar scores to u but slightly higher. in the 205-209 range. i would be thrilled if i scored higher than 210 in the real deal.
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Hey! I'm in the same boat too. And 17 was definitely rough for me so I'm hoping for a result like ucmd2018's.

May the force be with you!
 
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Sorry if this isn't the right place to post (long-time lurker, not much of a poster), but I'm taking the beast on the 25th, so I figure I'll only have time for 1 more nbme (maybe more, but at least 1). Haven't taken 17 or 18. Is one more "beneficial" than the other in your opinions?
Thanks!
 
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rodneysiev said:
Sorry if this isn't the right place to post (long-time lurker, not much of a poster), but I'm taking the beast on the 25th, so I figure I'll only have time for 1 more nbme (maybe more, but at least 1). Haven't taken 17 or 18. Is one more "beneficial" than the other in your opinions?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
17 was more reflective of my actual exam than 18, but I've heard the opposite for some people.
 
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