Not Passing NBMEs (forms 4, 6 and 3 so far)

[IonClaws]

I'm a third year med student who has just finished rotations and studying for Step 2 CK for about 1.5 weeks. I've passed all shelf exams though a couple were marginal (just above 5th percentile).

Record of my NBMEs:
First NBME (form 4) with no studying - 185 estimated.

Second NBME (form 6) with 3 days of studying (10 40-question UWorld blocks and reading explanations for wrong answers) - 198 estimated

Third NBME (form 3) with an addition week of studying (15 more blocks reading explanations for wrong answers) - 187 estimated. I've read that this one is very tough.

Of course none are passing as minimum is 209. I planned to take Step 2 CK on June 21st but have delayed it to July 11th. I have read that form 7 is also tough. Are there any more NBMEs or other resources I can use (besides UWorld SA) to see if I can actually pass this test? Feeling really frustrated...

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[swk11]

I'm a third year med student who has just finished rotations and studying for Step 2 CK for about 1.5 weeks. I've passed all shelf exams though a couple were marginal (just above 5th percentile).

Record of my NBMEs:
First NBME (form 4) with no studying - 185 estimated.

Second NBME (form 6) with 3 days of studying (10 40-question UWorld blocks and reading explanations for wrong answers) - 198 estimated

Third NBME (form 3) with an addition week of studying (15 more blocks reading explanations for wrong answers) - 187 estimated. I've read that this one is very tough.

Of course none are passing as minimum is 209. I planned to take Step 2 CK on June 21st but have delayed it to July 11th. I have read that form 7 is also tough. Are there any more NBMEs or other resources I can use (besides UWorld SA) to see if I can actually pass this test? Feeling really frustrated...

Why are you taking so many practice tests before studying? Your score isn't going to change by doing 3-4 more blocks of questions. Go through UWorld. Study. Then UWSAs.

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[MackandBlues]

Why are you taking so many practice tests before studying? Your score isn't going to change by doing 3-4 more blocks of questions. Go through UWorld. Study. Then UWSAs.

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Agree with this. Go through uworld once then take an exam


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[IonClaws]

Why are you taking so many practice tests before studying? Your score isn't going to change by doing 3-4 more blocks of questions. Go through UWorld. Study. Then UWSAs.

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I forgot to mention I've already gone through UWorld once. Going through it a second time and reading explanations for incorrect answers. Averaging a 62% (first time through was 50% or so).

 

[Mad Jack]

I forgot to mention I've already gone through UWorld once. Going through it a second time and reading explanations for incorrect answers. Averaging a 62% (first time through was 50% or so).

It seems you have some core deficiencies. Have you looked into what your weakest areas are? How was your Step 1? DO or MD?

 

[MackandBlues]

Sounds like you have some big knowledge gaps... I'd probably try read FA for step 2


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[swk11]

Or watch Onlinemeded videos. Idk man... I think you need more time

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[IonClaws]

It seems you have some core deficiencies. Have you looked into what your weakest areas are? How was your Step 1? DO or MD?

Step 1 was 218, but I had to take a year off between that and rotations. MD in the U.S. Weakest areas are Ob/Gyn (55%) and IM (60%).

 

[Mad Jack]

Step 1 was 218, but I had to take a year off between that and rotations. MD in the U.S. Weakest areas are Ob/Gyn (55%) and IM (60%).

Given all of that, I'd push it back. Your Step 1 performance was on the low end with ample time, I just don't see you flipping this in a month.

 

[IonClaws]

Given all of that, I'd push it back. Your Step 1 performance was on the low end with ample time, I just don't see you flipping this in a month.

I think I miscommunicated - I took Step 1 in August after my M2 year, then took the rest of the year off and started rotations about 9 months later in May.

EDIT: I rescheduled for Aug 31st. Hopefully I won't have to delay it further than that...

 

[pre med 2014]

hey I'm in a similar boat. I just took form 4, got 81% correct and it said 196. So a solid fail. Not sure how it was possible to get 81% correct cause I felt like I was doing horribly. Not to mention I have no idea how that high can be a fail... Is 90% the new pass or something?

 

[iceman55]

hey I'm in a similar boat. I just took form 4, got 81% correct and it said 196. So a solid fail. Not sure how it was possible to get 81% correct cause I felt like I was doing horribly. Not to mention I have no idea how that high can be a fail... Is 90% the new pass or something?

This doesnt sound right. How many questions did you get wrong?


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[pre med 2014]

This doesnt sound right. How many questions did you get wrong?


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ok maybe I'm failing cause I can't count🙁 Got 45 wrong out of 184 so it's actually 75.5%, but still... that's high for a significant fail

...my mind was still on step 1 nbme 50q blocks, this one was only 46q's x 4 = 184 questions

 

[iceman55]

ok maybe I'm failing cause I can't count🙁 Got 45 wrong out of 184 so it's actually 75.5%, but still... that's high for a significant fail

...my mind was still on step 1 nbme 50q blocks, this one was only 46q's x 4 = 184 questions

Yeah the curve is tough. One thing i do know is that Nbme recently changed the scale on those exams, making it tougher to score well. They also seem to under estimate based on threads of people that have taken real thing recently. How did you do on step 1 ?


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[Postictal Raiden]

ok maybe I'm failing cause I can't count🙁 Got 45 wrong out of 184 so it's actually 75.5%, but still... that's high for a significant fail

...my mind was still on step 1 nbme 50q blocks, this one was only 46q's x 4 = 184 questions

I had only 27 mistakes (85% correct) and got in the low 230s. ridiculous. The scale is set up in a way that makes it easier for people to score super high once they pass a certain percentage of correct answers. It should be the opposite, where it's relatively easy to pass or get an average score, but extremely hard to do well.

 

[pre med 2014]

I had only 27 mistakes (85% correct) and got in the low 230s. ridiculous. The scale is set up in a way that makes it easier for people to score super high once they pass a certain percentage of correct answers. It should be the opposite, where it's relatively easy to pass or get an average score, but extremely hard to do well.

lol shouldn't it be extremely hard to pass since passing is required to get a license to practice medicine

 

[pre med 2014]

Yeah the curve is tough. One thing i do know is that Nbme recently changed the scale on those exams, making it tougher to score well. They also seem to under estimate based on threads of people that have taken real thing recently. How did you do on step 1 ?


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yea they did the same thing with step 1, same nbme same questions but if you took it before the changes the pass marks were 10% lower, and what correlated with a 'good' score equated to much less % correct for the same exact form

 

[DBV]

You're in a tough spot. You seem to have a lot of holes to plug. I would suggest a ton of reading possibly back to even step 1 material.

 

[IonClaws]

You're in a tough spot. You seem to have a lot of holes to plug. I would suggest a ton of reading possibly back to even step 1 material.

Good news guys...today, after another pass of UWorld, I scored a 215 on UWorld SA form 1. So, looks like I'm heading in the right direction. Thanks for your help guys.

 

[IonClaws]

UPDATE: For posterity, I got my results today and PASSED the exam with a 224! Use UWSA1, do not waste time on the worthless NBMEs!

 

[USMLE_Pro]

UPDATE: For posterity, I got my results today and PASSED the exam with a 224! Use UWSA1, do not waste time on the worthless NBMEs!

Just because the NBME scores are not predictive of your actual score does not mean they are useless. They are HIGHLY useful (if and only if you utilize them correctly), but poor predictive, IMO.

 

[IonClaws]

Just because the NBME scores are not predictive of your actual score does not mean they are useless. They are HIGHLY useful (if and only if you utilize them correctly), but poor predictive, IMO.

You can get everything the NBMEs provide (% correct, relative areas of strength/weakness) and more through the UWSAs (predictive value, correct answers AND explanations). The NBMEs are indeed borderline useless.

 

[USMLE_Pro]

You can get everything the NBMEs provide (% correct, relative areas of strength/weakness) and more through the UWSAs (predictive value, correct answers AND explanations). The NBMEs are indeed borderline useless.

The one thing you’re missing here: NBMEs provide the CONTENT most likely to be tested on the exams. I hated having to shell out $60 for each one, but I really feel it was worth it. I did end up having to spend a lot of time figuring out some of the ones I got wrong, which may not be worthwhile depending on your score goal.

 

[IonClaws]

The one thing you’re missing here: NBMEs provide the CONTENT most likely to be tested on the exams. I hated having to shell out $60 for each one, but I really feel it was worth it. I did end up having to spend a lot of time figuring out some of the ones I got wrong, which may not be worthwhile depending on your score goal.

The content they test on the NBMEs is meaningless if they do not tell you the correct answers, and you can't necessarily be sure what the correct answers are even if you spend an unnecessarily long time researching the questions. Fortunately this will change in the near future AFAIK, which will make the NBMEs much more useful than they are now.

 

[USMLE_Pro]

It is a good point about them previously not giving you the answers (although I feel like they might now, because for the CK exams the correct answers are highlighted). I was usually between two answers so I could feel confident just looking up information, but of course everyone’s different, if you’re totally lost on a certain subject to begin with you’re gonna need more than NBMEs