NBME Timing and other diagnostic testing

[njshibby]

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So I'm trying to figure out what's the best way to evaluate myself and my potential study plan. We have our spring break next week and we're basically done with everything outside of renal, test is end of June. I'm thinking about taking the Kaplan Diag on Friday, studying the week like i would board prep time then following up with an NBME on Sunday.
This sound like a good idea or is it wasting NBMEs? Is the Kaplan diag there to scare you into spending money on their course? And is there a NBME version any of you thought was good for this, not too hard compared to the real/good at pointing out weaknesses?

This post makes me sound like a spaz. Appreciate the help.

 

[sebsvenmdc]

Don't stress about the Kaplan diagnostic too much. It's like 150 questions. They only give you a percent correct. An NBME or CBSE is much more intense...or at least, it seems to have a lot more meaning to me. The Qbanks are collections of thousands of questions...the diagnostic is like your first 150. You'll go up significantly from the diagnostic!

 

[Redrox]

We take a NBME as a school next week. Anybody else's program do the same thing?

 

[njshibby]

We take a NBME as a school next week. Anybody else's program do the same thing?

We're doing the CBSE about the same I'm guessing and the NBME shelf's.
Oh so the Kaplan diagnostic is just a random collection of their q's? And it spits out the stats like the qbank does? iiinteresting, doesn't seem that useful then. the reason i was wondering about their accuracy was, at least the princeton mcat diag's you definitely had to look at with a jaundiced eye...
what does the breakdown on the NBME look like? There are independent sites out there that give you a projected scores from those right?