NBME not correlating with Qbanks?

[wild0ne]

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So, I have kind of a strange "problem". I took NBME #1 about a 1.5 week ago and got a 460 (=209). I just took NBME #2 and got a 530 (=226). Although it's not your average SDN score, I'm ecstatic...but here's why:

My UW average is ~50% (~300 questions). My Kaplan average is ~53% (~700 questions).

Both averages are...well, below average for typical users of the qbanks. It seems like I should have scored well below what I got on the NBME. Is my math screwed up?

Should I be worried? Was my latest NBME just a fluke? Anyone know of NBME grossly overpredicting scores?

(This brings back bad memories of taking those stinking AAMC tests for the MCAT).

 

[Mistress S]

I'm in almost exactly the same boat...Q-bank average is a little over 50%, took NBME #1 a week ago and also got 460. I am taking NBME #2 on Sat and will be happy as long as it doesn't go down (and hopefully goes up...). Everyone says the NBME tests are a better predictor than Qbank, let's hope so.

 

[wild0ne]

Glad to hear I'm not alone.

Didn't mean to imply that NBME scores were inflated - it's just odd to see that much of a discrepancy. I guess another NBME or two will confirm or collapse it.

The only plausible thing that can contribute to this is perhaps Goljan. Because the lectures are outdated, he does tend to focus on current NBME topics. If you know Goljan well, but not much of anything else, I can see a high NBME scores, low Kaplan scores.

Good luck Mistress! Keep me posted on how it goes!

 

[PAPPAPPAP]

I think that the consensus is that forms 1 and 2 are the easiest of the 4 with forms 3 and 4 being more consistant with the actual test both by level of difficulty and predictive value. But I still think that regardless of their difficulty, they are all pretty accurate guages as far as the scores go.

 

[liverotcod]

My schools learning center advisor sent out an email saying that the level of detail was much harder for Qbank than in the past: a change, although he says that Step 1 itself has not changed. I sure hope that's true, because I'm sucking at Qbank. My date's next Wednesday!😱😳😱

 

[marr]

I have taken all four nbme and yes nbme 3 is the hardest of them all. In my opinion, don't use nbme as a guage of your score, use it to see where your weak areas are. Then study like hell in those weak areas and you should be fine.

 

[GOGETA]

I have taken all four nbme and yes nbme 3 is the hardest of them all. In my opinion, don't use nbme as a guage of your score, use it to see where your weak areas are. Then study like hell in those weak areas and you should be fine.

So you guys are implying that NBME will underpredict your
score in USMLE

The norm is to score + or - 5 from your most resent NBME.

But hey what do I know, I cant even write proper English😀