Need advice about taking test or not

[GodneySpears]

Hi everyone, I need some advice/input. Things are not going well for me with my USMLE studying. I have taken 2 NBME practice tests and have passed, but not by much. What's even worse is I feel like I have absolutely no clue what is going on, and that my horribly low scores are in fact an overestimate. Basically, there is a high likelihood that I'm going to fail the boards. It's pretty much certain at this point that my score will be low, if I do pass. I have just under 3 weeks left... and I'm not sure if much is going to change.

Anyway, I've been trying to suppress those thoughts and live in denial..but I'm not sure how long this can go on. I'm wondering what would be better: to take the test and pass and do poorly..or take a year off and do maybe moderately well?

Thanks for any input or advice.

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[aquila]

Someone I know who took the test in a hurry and didn't get a good score told me that the best thing you can do for yourself is to take the test only when you are ready. You only get to take this test once (assuming you pass). It also depends on your goals. If you want to do IM, peds, fam med, I think it's not as important to get a very high score. But if you're thinking about the more competitive fields, I would suggest taking the test only when you're ready.

 

[NERDY]

How are you doing on your Q banks?

 

[RadOncDoc21]

Hi everyone, I need some advice/input. Things are not going well for me with my USMLE studying. I have taken 2 NBME practice tests and have passed, but not by much. What's even worse is I feel like I have absolutely no clue what is going on, and that my horribly low scores are in fact an overestimate. Basically, there is a high likelihood that I'm going to fail the boards. It's pretty much certain at this point that my score will be low, if I do pass. I have just under 3 weeks left... and I'm not sure if much is going to change.

Anyway, I've been trying to suppress those thoughts and live in denial..but I'm not sure how long this can go on. I'm wondering what would be better: to take the test and pass and do poorly..or take a year off and do maybe moderately well?

Thanks for any input or advice.

Take it from me, you only get one shot at this and if you don't do well it will haunt you forever. I took Step I without properly preparing for it and it caused me big time... it took a lot of work to turn my application around and it was a blaring glitch in my application that came up every single time during my interviews.

Three weeks is a good amount of time to prepare only if you use the NBME practice tests to find out the areas you're weak at and focus on those areas the most. Whatever you do, DO NOT take the exam until you know for sure you will get the score you want... unless you want to decrease your chances to match into the field and program you want.

Just my 2 cents.

-R