NBME Plateau

[HoneyBadger3]

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Need some advice on improving my score. Original step 1 date was 6/17, but I pushed it to July because my NBME scores are not improving. They're too consistent and not in a good way...

NBME 15 (Baseline 2 days before dedicated): 198
NBME 16: 217 (this was pretty encouraging. 19 point jump 1 week into dedicated, but unfortunately it all went downhill from there)
NBME 17: 215
NBME 21: 213
NBME 24: 217
UWSA1: 228
Target: 240+

I have been doing one NBME/UWSA per week to check my progress. Most of the upperclassmen and fellow classmates say UWSA1 over-predicts by 10-20 points, so I am considering that to be a 218. I am really struggling to understand why my scores are not improving after 5 weeks of dedicated studying.

In terms of foundation, I am in a DO school where the curriculum is considered to be subpar by the entire class (and that is an understatement). I used BnB, BRS Physio, FA, Pathoma, and Sketchy Micro for each system we were in and quickly skimmed through school material 2 days before exams. I also did the corresponding Rx and Kaplan questions for the system. By the beginning of dedicated, I finished 60% of Rx, 50% of Kaplan, and 70% of UWorld. UWorld % started at low 50s in the beginning and increased to mid 60s low 70s in the last 20% (blocks are always done in random).

My daily schedule for the first 2 weeks were 2 Goljan lectures while driving, 2 blocks of UWORLD, 1 hour of sketchy, 1 hour pathoma, and referenced FA. After finishing UWorld I started to do 2 blocks of my flagged questions, and realized that I was still scoring 60s and low 70s. I feel like most people get 80+% on their second pass. I also started to freak out because my NBME scores dipped, so I switched things up a bit for weeks 3 and 4 (goljan, 1 block of incorrects for UWORLD, sketchy, and carefully going through about 25 pages of FA based on my weakest subjects from the NBME the previous week).

In total, I am on my second pass of UWorld, 3rd pass of Sketchy, 3rd pass of Goljan, finished 1 pass of pathoma in dedicated. The only thing I have not completed is to go through FA in extensive detail, which I do not feel will yield a 20 point increase when I complete it.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I am really at a lost right now and I figured it would be more helpful to provide as much detail as I can. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[samsamani]

I'm in the same boat my friend. I've been consistent with 75% correct no matter what qbank or test I take. I think it's just burnout since I didn't have a day off from studying for a month. I will take a day off and resume my practices and I'll let you know if that helps. Good luck.

 

[The Med-Peds Dude]

This over-studying can really cause you to start second guessing yourself. You didn't say how well you've done in basic sciences. If your classmates have improved, it may not be your curriculum. Are there certain areas where you consistently underperform?

Also, realized that there is no statistical difference between 213 and 217. Your score did not drop.

 

[HoneyBadger3]

I'm in the same boat my friend. I've been consistent with 75% correct no matter what qbank or test I take. I think it's just burnout since I didn't have a day off from studying for a month. I will take a day off and resume my practices and I'll let you know if that helps. Good luck.

Thanks for the support! That's exactly what I did too and I feel so much better going into this week. Praying it will reflect on the NBME this week. Good luck to you too!

This over-studying can really cause you to start second guessing yourself. You didn't say how well you've done in basic sciences. If your classmates have improved, it may not be your curriculum. Are there certain areas where you consistently underperform?

Also, realized that there is no statistical difference between 213 and 217. Your score did not drop.

Either way staying at 213-217 and not improving is not a good sign. I was around top quartile first year and drop down to 50th percentile second year because it was the universal advice from upperclassmen. Start boards early second year and pay little to no attention to lectures because they are that bad. I won't dive into details about the curriculum for the sake of anonymity, but you will just have to take my word for it. I will be happy to discuss these issues in 2 years 🙄. Weakest subject is definitely pharm and derm which is not covered very well in UFAPS.

 

[Chibucks15]

Thanks for the support! That's exactly what I did too and I feel so much better going into this week. Praying it will reflect on the NBME this week. Good luck to you too!



Either way staying at 213-217 and not improving is not a good sign. I was around top quartile first year and drop down to 50th percentile second year because it was the universal advice from upperclassmen. Start boards early second year and pay little to no attention to lectures because they are that bad. I won't dive into details about the curriculum for the sake of anonymity, but you will just have to take my word for it. I will be happy to discuss these issues in 2 years 🙄. Weakest subject is definitely pharm and derm which is not covered very well in UFAPS.

Go wild with sketchy and first aid. It helps with pharm. like just stare at the pictures

 

[NecrotizingFasciitis]

Re-watching/annotating Pathoma I feel like helped me a lot. It was one of those things where I was familiar with everything, & didn't feel like I needed the review, but after re-watching my UWorld stats have been a lot stronger. I didn't realize how many dumb little details had started slipping out of my mind. Not difficult stuff, just stuff I hadn't thought about in a while ya know.

Do you have anything like that? Like, you feel comfortable big picture-wise but maybe some of the details have started to slip in the craziness of dedicated?

 

[HoneyBadger3]

Go wild with sketchy and first aid. It helps with pharm. like just stare at the pictures

I guess I underestimated FA a bit. It's actually helping a lot. Sketchy Pharm is always a hit or a miss. Any suggestions? I liked the sketches for diabetes, HIV, diuretics, SSRI and TB. Unfortunately they're very long and some are just awful imo, so I often feel like I wasted half an hour.

Re-watching/annotating Pathoma I feel like helped me a lot. It was one of those things where I was familiar with everything, & didn't feel like I needed the review, but after re-watching my UWorld stats have been a lot stronger. I didn't realize how many dumb little details had started slipping out of my mind. Not difficult stuff, just stuff I hadn't thought about in a while ya know.

Do you have anything like that? Like, you feel comfortable big picture-wise but maybe some of the details have started to slip in the craziness of dedicated?

That's actually right on the money. I noticed I tend to do better when the questions test big picture concepts. Actually, the more info they give, the better because it's like they're giving away more hints. I know I memorized a bunch of high yield facts and concepts, but I haven't figured out the ideal way of integrating them together. Some questions give away very little, but only require a small detail to make a connection to the correct answer, but I struggle and panic, which leads to me having 5+ differentials that are all over the place.

Update: 228 on NBME 22 yesterday a small victory, but it makes a 12 point improvement more realistic in 3.5 weeks