Step I NBME Score fluctuation

Started by addy
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addy

Full Member
10+ Year Member
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Low: 232
High 255+
All within 1 week.

Did anyone else see these massive fluctuations in their scores?
 
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Just wanted to offer some reassurance. I was scoring in the high 240s-250 around 1-2 weeks before my exam but then got a 234 on NBME 16 three days before which sent my anxiety skyrocketing. That was within a week of scoring 250 on another NBME. Ended up with a 258 on the real thing.
I think I was just really tired of studying by the time I took that last NBME and was sort of just trying to get through it rather than putting in a lot of mental effort. Of course then I felt really terrible in those few days before the exam and it lead to trying to cram more minutiae which I don't suggest for anyone as it is already a stressful time. But who knows, it ended up working out in the end.
 
Just wanted to offer some reassurance. I was scoring in the high 240s-250 around 1-2 weeks before my exam but then got a 234 on NBME 16 three days before which sent my anxiety skyrocketing. That was within a week of scoring 250 on another NBME. Ended up with a 258 on the real thing.
I think I was just really tired of studying by the time I took that last NBME and was sort of just trying to get through it rather than putting in a lot of mental effort. Of course then I felt really terrible in those few days before the exam and it lead to trying to cram more minutiae which I don't suggest for anyone as it is already a stressful time. But who knows, it ended up working out in the end.


Hey, thanks man, I really appreciate you sharing. I am shocked and disturbed that more people didn't have these experiences. I took NBME 16 yesterday and scored a 247, but I feel like a lot of those questions I just got right out of sheer luck. Even if it wasn't luck, it's unnerving to have, within a week, scores between 230 and 264 . I will be taking NBME 17 soon--hopefully that'll be over 240. I'd be happy with anything over 240 at this point.
 
I understand your frustration! On the same boat. NBME 16 i got a 241 and NBME 17 i got a 230... but then i realized the difference was I got 4 more questions wrong. There was a great chart someone put together showing the correlation between the 3 point scores and raw percentages. it shows a matter of a few questions can raise or drop ur score by 8-10 points. so its ok dont stress... stay confident in urself n in ur prep! everything should go well