USMLE Nbme and uworld score discrepancy

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Syfte3

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so I took nbme 12 and got a 222. This is 2 weeks before my test, I probably should have taken one earlier but I've been focused trying to finish uworld. I have a 69% on uworld so I don't understand why my score is so low. Shouldn't I be doing worse in uworld? I have no idea what to do now. I would really appreciate any feedback.
 
UW - learning tool. Read the startup screen. Not to be used as score predictor.

NBME - generally good score predictor (by anecdotes every year) but there are outliers. Taking 1 NBME could be accurate for you, or any of numerous reasons could make it less accurate.

Take another NBME soon and compare to see if there's a trend.

Search function on sdn - really useful. There are about 30 posts every day about this same or similar topics. Search and read, and you'll see the same things repeated over and over.
 
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so I took nbme 12 and got a 222. This is 2 weeks before my test, I probably should have taken one earlier but I've been focused trying to finish uworld. I have a 69% on uworld so I don't understand why my score is so low. Shouldn't I be doing worse in uworld? I have no idea what to do now. I would really appreciate any feedback.

As above, UW isn't the best predictor. For the sake of argument though, let's assume UW was meant to be a good predictor. Based on my screen it looks like the average UW score is a few points above 60%. Given the average score on step 1 is ~228 (if you count internationals, not just US schools) I would expect 69% to be within range of 220-240.
 
I can't be a good judge here, but here's my 2 cents: have you read and understood/memorized FA? I view Uworld as a GREAT learning tool. However, if you just used UWorld without fully understanding a topic, that might be where some of the discrepancy might be. Uworld will reinforce your knowledge/point to your weaknesses. It is, in my opinion, useless if you are learning solely from UWorld without fully reviewing a topic. It won't help you form a complete picture as the questions are all over the place.

For instance, I did half of UWorld throughout the year, but it was essentially a waste because I didn't really review a lot of areas before doing the questions. Now, I do Uworld after having gone through 70% of FA, and I can pick-up what they are going to ask/what they are trying to ask just based on the questions before even reading the explanation. That's what it's good for - making connections, learning where your weak areas are, learning how to answer the questions, and adding more to the knowledge of whatever topic you learned from FA.

I would say learn to anticipate the questions. Think about what they are trying to ask you, rephrase it in your own words in the context of the question, and then look at the answer choices. Come-up with a reason why each answer choice is wrong. There's definitely a lot of exceptions, so this is where I have realized memorizing the tiny, nit-picky details is helpful.

As you are going through final pass of FA, something I plan on doing is each page I turn, I should be able to recall the details and form a complete picture of what that page is about. When I don't remember a detail, I will type that detail in a document.

Another thing you could do: let's say you see the word otitis media, I should be able to come-up with a differential for it (H. inf. - were they vaccinated? If so, when? PSSV or PCV? Age? Any comorbid conditions that warranted a PPSV?, S. pneumo (think encapsulated, IgA protease), Langerhaans cell histiocytosis - think lytic lesions on skull, mastoid bone mass, skin abnormalities, etc.). This has been super helpful, but it's also very tedious.

Those are some things that I am doing. I don't know anymore than you do, but a 222 is also a really good score! I would be so happy if I got that on a practice two weeks before the real deal! Seriously. You are two weeks out. I predict that you will be in the 230s come real deal.
 
Thank you for all the responses. The feedback was really helpful. I think I'll be focusing a bit more on first aid and less on uworld during these last 2 weeks. I'll take another nbme near the end of the week to see how it goes.
 
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