NBME Practice Forms

[AlbertConstable]

Can someone explain the breakdown/details of the 4 practice exams provided by NBME for $45 each? I've heard people mention Form 1 and Form 2 a few times saying that they are close to the real thing but I haven't heard any mention of Form 3 or Form 4.

So if anyone with experience could comment on all 4 of them, I would appreciate it.

(When to take them? take 1 of them? all of them? difficulty/simulation of real thing? whatever else)

Thanks.

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[AlbertConstable]

Anyone?

 

[superoxide]

Can someone explain the breakdown/details of the 4 practice exams provided by NBME for $45 each? I've heard people mention Form 1 and Form 2 a few times saying that they are close to the real thing but I haven't heard any mention of Form 3 or Form 4.

So if anyone with experience could comment on all 4 of them, I would appreciate it.

(When to take them? take 1 of them? all of them? difficulty/simulation of real thing? whatever else)

Thanks.

Each form has 200 questions (4 blocks with 50 questions/block). you can take the test either in test mode, where you get 60 minutes/block or you could take it in self-paced mode, where you get 4 hours/block

I took all 4 forms in self paced mode. Based on my experience with them, I found Form 1 to be the easiest. Form 4 was the hardest. While I was going through form 4, I thought i was going to fail it BAD, but ended up with a score of 460 on it I thought forms 2 and 3 were similar in terms of difficulty and most like the actual step 1 exam.

My timeline:
Form 1: 2 months before step 1
Form 4: 1 month before step 1
Form 3: 2 weeks before step 1
Form 2: 2 days before step 1

I recommend starting with Form 1. You can take the others in any order you want, but I feel you should keep forms 2 and 3 for the end as you are nearing your Step 1 date.

Good luck

 

[Taus]

Each form has 200 questions (4 blocks with 50 questions/block). you can take the test either in test mode, where you get 60 minutes/block or you could take it in self-paced mode, where you get 4 hours/block

I took all 4 forms in self paced mode. Based on my experience with them, I found Form 1 to be the easiest. Form 4 was the hardest. While I was going through form 4, I thought i was going to fail it BAD, but ended up with a score of 460 on it I thought forms 2 and 3 were similar in terms of difficulty and most like the actual step 1 exam.

My timeline:
Form 1: 2 months before step 1
Form 4: 1 month before step 1
Form 3: 2 weeks before step 1
Form 2: 2 days before step 1

I recommend starting with Form 1. You can take the others in any order you want, but I feel you should keep forms 2 and 3 for the end as you are nearing your Step 1 date.

Good luck

do these not change year to year? (or at least from last year?)

 

[superoxide]

do these not change year to year? (or at least from last year?)

I took these tests recently (I took form 1 on september 2006). I remember at the beginning of the test there was a copyright date for each test. For form 1, I think the copyright was from 2001. So I dont think the question content of each form changes from year to year. I took the same test in 2006 that someone took in 2001 or 2002 but newer forms (forms 3 and 4) are created to reflect the changing nature of the test (I think they had a copyright from the year 2005)

 

[AlbertConstable]

Thanks for your help. It clears things up.

If anyone has other comments to add about the nbme forms, I'd be happy to hear them too.

 

[Taus]

I took these tests recently (I took form 1 on september 2006). I remember at the beginning of the test there was a copyright date for each test. For form 1, I think the copyright was from 2001. So I dont think the question content of each form changes from year to year. I took the same test in 2006 that someone took in 2001 or 2002 but newer forms (forms 3 and 4) are created to reflect the changing nature of the test (I think they had a copyright from the year 2005)

thanks a lot

 

[godschosenone]

So at $40 each, buying them for $10 each would be a very good deal right? Has anyone ever been offered these via email at a discounted price? Email is just not very secure, is it?