NBME 2 vs 4? Practice Step2ck qs at prometric center? Worth it or more UW/Crush?

[swtiepie711]

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Any thoughts on NBME 2 vs 4? Take them both or one over the other? I did a search & didn't come up with much.

Also, any thoughts about the practice qs available at prometric? My understanding is they are the same as the practice qs thru step2ck online but you take it at the center, etc.

I originally intended to do all the NBME practice exams. My NBME #1 was 256 before starting to study, NBME#3 was 243 after a week of studying (gotta love the drop! 🙂 )
I had initially wanted to gauge where I'm at & use the results to direct studying, but so far I haven't really been "studying" in a formal sense (i.e. reading review books) - just doing UW (which by itself takes me forever!!!). I have about 12 days before my test (with 2 planned break days) so 10 days of "studying" (read: USMLEWorld) left. Not sure if it's worth it to spend 3 half-days doing the remaining 2 NBMEs & the prometric practice questions, or just more time doing UW & possibly trying to read sometrhing like Secrets or Crush...

Anyways... any honest thoughts about this appreciated. Good luck everyone!

 

[Golding]

NBME 2 is generally considered more accurate, while 4 is considered more challenging. Still not a 100% indicator, though, so either one is really adequate enough.

The Prometric questions are the 137 you can get online. I think you can do it at Prometric if you have anxiety and need to desensitize.

Seems like you're in pretty good shape so far having done just UWorld and Crush. If you still have questions to do, no sense in changing what works.

 

[clement]

NBME 2 is generally considered more accurate, while 4 is considered more challenging. Still not a 100% indicator, though, so either one is really adequate enough.

The Prometric questions are the 137 you can get online. I think you can do it at Prometric if you have anxiety and need to desensitize.

Seems like you're in pretty good shape so far having done just UWorld and Crush. If you still have questions to do, no sense in changing what works.

Having read posts on this forum I was under the impression 2 was regarded as being more accurate, however, I'll add my 2 cents: Form 4 (which I took a few weeks out) was only off by 3 points from my score. Form 2 which I took two days out was 7 points off. I do agree that Form 4 was harder though. All in all, the nbme's were more accurate for both my Step 1 and Step 2 scores than any other source of practice.

 

[jackieMD2007]

You're probably okay not taking it at the center, right? I mean, you were there for Step 1.
I took Step 2 at the same center where I sat for Step 1 just to keep the environment the same 🙂

Good luck!!

 

[swtiepie711]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Golding - all I've done so far is UW- no crush. That's where I'm getting a little nervous - I see posts of pp doing UW/Crush/FA2CK/Kaplan etc - and I'm barely able to get through UW! At the rate I'm going, I'll finish the q bank, but that's just about it - so I'm not sure if I should shift focus - like, yea, work on qbank, but also read one of the books (Crush, FA2CK?) for a couple hrs a day? I'm about 45% through qbank w/ 10 study days left to go....

Clement - thx for the thoughts. I'm wondering about just doing form 2 sometime in the next 2 days and avoiding form 4. My score already dropped after a week of studying - not sure what good it would do for my confidence to drop again w/ a tough form 4.... or maybe i'm overthinking this 🙂 quite possible... er, probable...

Jackie - Yea, I know. I'm taking it at the same center too. I just get unnecessarily nervous about these kinds of things so whatever I can do to make it less nervewracking the better - but I'll contemplate passing on that since you're right - I was there already...

Thanks again for your thoughts. My situation is a little complicated - I'm grateful I did well on Step1, but due to some personal stuffs, I just can't study a gazzilion hours per day right now and I have a lot of personal-situation distractions right now. I'm not sure how much step2 matters to residency pp, and I'm fairly certain my score will be descending, but I'm not sure how much of a drop will be acceptable. I'm getting to the point where I don't care, not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Given I have 10 days left, have yet to do 50% of UW or touch a review (or other) book - I'm not sure where to put my energy...

Anyways, again, thx for sharing your insight & good luck, everyone!

 

[Residentsomeday]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Given I have 10 days left, have yet to do 50% of UW or touch a review (or other) book - I'm not sure where to put my energy...

QUOTE]

The only place to put your energy if you are not done with UW is with UW...period. Highest yield for time