Official 2013 Step 1 Experiences and Scores Thread

[Phloston]

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I figure now is a good time to jump-start this thread.

Even though some of us who had taken the exam in late-2012 are still awaiting our scores (amid the holiday delays) and could technically still post within last year's thread, it is after all mid-January now, so it's probably apposite that we move forward and hope for a great year.

Cheers to 2013

 

[burningheat]

There is a paper version of the free 150 via pdf if you want to go over the questions after your have done it with the FRED software. Same thing according to the NBME and I think it is actually 138 questions. Dunno for sure since I haven't done it yet. http://www.usmle.org/pdfs/step-1/2012content_step1.pdf

I X'ed out of UW to copy that link. I must really care for this forum. Back to my master...

PS: scroll to the bottom of the pdf

quicktip. to post links while uworld open, just highlingt your text and drag it to whatever window.

 

[Goober11]

quicktip. to post links while uworld open, just highlingt your text and drag it to whatever window.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

quicktip. to post links while uworld open, just highlingt your text and drag it to whatever window.

This just blew my mind

 

[burningheat]

This just blew my mind

my secret plan to make everyone study less hard while studying.

 

[thecalccobra]

The exam was harder than any NBME I took, hands down. Having gone through FA really well, I was really pissed when I got a few questions which took something from FA but took it 'one step further' and I ended up making an educated guess. Hell, even for some of the gimme questions, the answer choices were all worded the same that it was super tough to narrow it down to the correct one.

For patho, they really tested your core concepts inside out. Very few straightforward questions in here also.

Thing is, I don't know what I could have done differently to get these questions right. Kaplan, Pathoma, Goljan, UW 2x- I did it all.

 

[thecalccobra]

Congrats on being done man, must be relaxing feeling. Did you notice anything significantly different from what you expected? (ie, heavy pharm or neuro, or lots of images, test style, etc)

Nah, I feel like this exam played to my weaknesses. I can only recall 3-4 metabolic pathway questions and that pissed me off cause all that time spent memorizing the pathways was gone to waste. Images were fair I thought. A couple of abdomen, head CTs, an xray in each block pretty much.

Style was similar to UW. Going into the exam, I was expecting atleast half the questions would be from FA, but that wasn't the case.

 

[thecalccobra]

This is the third time I hear this in the past 10 days or so. One of my good friends wrote hers yesterday and said the SAME exact thing. Then I read someone else's 'usmle experience' on the internet and they said similar things...also took the test this week. This is scary...What's going on?

I really don't know. I'm just hoping for a fair curve and praying I get a score atleast somewhat close to my average of the 3 NBME's. I can't imagine what would have happened to someone who just focused on UW and FA. I had gone through Kaplan, FA atleast 4-5 times, UW 2x, Pathoma, Goljan 2.5x and still feel like I got raped. Ah well.

 

[suji0]

when you say you went through kaplan, do you mean the entire lecture notes?

I am sure you did good, it is scary to see how someone like you had gone through those resources so thoroughly and still didnt come out of the exam feeling good

 

[thecalccobra]

Haven't you been doing UWorld since like last summer...the only reason I'm bringing this up is that you've been doing Qbanks for like half a year now so it's pretty surprising that you'd find it so hard.

I actually only did UW 2x. Kaplan I did half and then tossed it to the side. For 99/100 experiences I've read, the exam was easier if not upto par with the NBME's and UW and came straight out of FA and UW. Yep, I am that 1/100.

 

[thecalccobra]

when you say you went through kaplan, do you mean the entire lecture notes?

I am sure you did good, it is scary to see how someone like you had gone through those resources so thoroughly and still didnt come out of the exam feeling good

I actually did all the Kaplan Lecture Notes except pathology and micro twice. I've heard it's not unusual to come out of the exam feeling like you bombed it but end up with a 240+. I can only pray 🙂

 

[thecalccobra]

Also, I did a total of 6 NBMEs + FRED 150 questions and got a total of 0 repeats.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

I actually did all the Kaplan Lecture Notes except pathology and micro twice. I've heard it's not unusual to come out of the exam feeling like you bombed it but end up with a 240+. I can only pray 🙂

Nah man one of the third years in my school felt the exact same way you did last year and he ended up doing fine. I thought you had done tons of prep and you did. I'm sure you're all good.

 

[Tawheed]

I took the exam couple of days ago and I felt like about 50-60% was FA. Please, try to get proper sleep the night before the exam.

 

[Phloston]

I took the exam couple of days And I felt like about 50-60% was FA. Please, try to get proper sleep the night was exam.

I felt my real deal had the same FA%, and sleep is most certainly an imperative.

Great job on getting the Step1 over with. Definitely let us know about your experience when you get a chance.

 

[Phloston]

Nah, I feel like this exam played to my weaknesses. I can only recall 3-4 metabolic pathway questions and that pissed me off cause all that time spent memorizing the pathways was gone to waste. Images were fair I thought. A couple of abdomen, head CTs, an xray in each block pretty much.

Style was similar to UW. Going into the exam, I was expecting atleast half the questions would be from FA, but that wasn't the case.

Congrats on getting it over with. Our minds force us to remember what was most challenging, but I'm sure you did great.

 

[thecalccobra]

Congrats on getting it over with. Our minds force us to remember what was most challenging, but I'm sure you did great.

Thanks. Depending on if I guessed correctly on a lot of questions, the score can vary anywhere from a 210-250

 

[sharklasers]

If First Aid only covers ~60% of the exam, what do you guys recommend otherwise?

I only have a dedicated period of a few weeks and it seems hard enough to get through First Aid, Pathoma and UWorld thoroughly, let alone another source!

 

[thecalccobra]

If First Aid only covers ~60% of the exam, what do you guys recommend otherwise?

I only have a dedicated period of a few weeks and it seems hard enough to get through First Aid, Pathoma and UWorld thoroughly, let alone another source!

Just stick with the above 3 sources you mentioned. I got a weird exam. Chances of you getting a normal exam are 99/100.

 

[CDI]

If First Aid only covers ~60% of the exam, what do you guys recommend otherwise?

I only have a dedicated period of a few weeks and it seems hard enough to get through First Aid, Pathoma and UWorld thoroughly, let alone another source!

FA may cover 60%, but without even realizing it you probably know another 10-15% just from having been in med school a few years. Throw UW concepts in there and thats another 10-15%. (Easier said than done, of course...)

Pathoma its difficult to say how much it directly helps. Its very good for a refresher/review, and may guide you during the exam, but I'm not sure about it translating to actual points. I think results vary here.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

FA may cover 60%, but without even realizing it you probably know another 10-15% just from having been in med school a few years. Throw UW concepts in there and thats another 10-15%. (Easier said than done, of course...)

Pathoma its difficult to say how much it directly helps. Its very good for a refresher/review, and may guide you during the exam, but I'm not sure about it translating to actual points. I think results vary here.

Pathoma strikes a nice balance between FA and Goljan imo. It definitely has way more detail than FA (and has a few diseases that FA doesn't even cover) but these details have shown up on UWorld/Kaplan questions. Sattar also gives a nice framework to think about some concepts as well (I'll never forget coagulation cascade details for instance). I personally think FA is pretty lacking when it comes to the actual explanations behind a lot of the pathology or detail.

For example, FA never says anything about the length of time you have to wait after an episode of hemolysis to confirm a G6PD deficiency. It also doesn't mention anything about the spleen also being the source of the antibodies in ITP which is why splenectomy "cures" ITP (removing both the macrophages and source of antibodies). Both of which are very testable concepts.

 

[CDI]

Pathoma strikes a nice balance between FA and Goljan imo. It definitely has way more detail than FA (and has a few diseases that FA doesn't even cover) but these details have shown up on UWorld/Kaplan questions. Sattar also gives a nice framework to think about some concepts as well (I'll never forget coagulation cascade details for instance). I personally think FA is pretty lacking when it comes to the actual explanations behind a lot of the pathology or detail.

For example, FA never says anything about the length of time you have to wait after an episode of hemolysis to confirm a G6PD deficiency. It also doesn't mention anything about the spleen also being the source of the antibodies in ITP which is why splenectomy "cures" ITP (removing both the macrophages and source of antibodies). Both of which are very testable concepts.

I feel like the exam writers are still focusing on with ways to test must-know (straightforward) path concepts which lots of us still manage to get wrong even with all these resources. (Pressure, answer choices, long stems, etc)

Unless its directly locking up points on the exam, I never really considered stuff to be in the"high-yield" category, which is why I'm taking a moderate stance with Pathoma.

Goljan margin notes/blue boxes are high-yield, as you'll get points right off those. Even without the integration of other resources.

Pathoma is still Top 2 in terms of path resources. I agree it helps explain a lot of which you'll need to know to answer the occasional multi-level concept Qs, but at least for my exam, Pathoma wasn't a do or die. Those multi-level Qs or up/down arrow concepts also eat up serious time. Qbanks help more here - either know it or you don't and move on.

I lost points by FA recall error first and foremost. Then everything else.

 

[KinasePro]

The exam was harder than any NBME I took, hands down. Having gone through FA really well, I was really pissed when I got a few questions which took something from FA but took it 'one step further' and I ended up making an educated guess. Hell, even for some of the gimme questions, the answer choices were all worded the same that it was super tough to narrow it down to the correct one.

For patho, they really tested your core concepts inside out. Very few straightforward questions in here also.

Thing is, I don't know what I could have done differently to get these questions right. Kaplan, Pathoma, Goljan, UW 2x- I did it all.

I felt the same way coming out of my exam, but try not to sweat it these next few weeks. Trust in your preparation & the NBMEs' predictive value, and try to relax. If your test felt that difficult to you with all of your preparation, it was likely even more challenging to everyone else. My exam was similar to what you describe, and I believe the curve ended up being pretty generous. I had a ton of step 2-level questions and random minutiae that I could only find answers to on pub med.

Some step 1 forms are ~80% FA-type questions and others are more gut-wrenching. All things considered, I actually prefer the more difficult exams like ours over the "easier" ones, as there is a wider margin to differentiate yourself from the average test-taker. Put differently, I'll take the UWSA curves over NBME curves any day, and I think our forms had UWSA-type curves, if that makes any sense. GL & congrats on finishing the beast, I'm sure your preparation wil pay off. 👍

 

[John Lannister]

If First Aid only covers ~60% of the exam, what do you guys recommend otherwise?

I only have a dedicated period of a few weeks and it seems hard enough to get through First Aid, Pathoma and UWorld thoroughly, let alone another source!

First aid covers 95%. It just doesn't have all the details. It's a skeleton, not a textbook. You can get the details from a variety of places, hence you will get many different answers.

 

[Jonari]

Anybody feel that UW is more do-able compared to the NBME exams?

 

[burningheat]

Anybody feel that UW is more do-able compared to the NBME exams?

just have to be more confident with your gut to do nbme.

took test today, felt identical to nbme to me. almost every question was directly covered through uworld,nbme 13/15 or uwsa1/2

 

[Jonari]

just have to be more confident with your gut to do nbme.

took test today, felt identical to nbme to me. almost every question was directly covered through uworld,nbme 13/15 or uwsa1/2

I wonder how the real deal pairs up with nbme/UW in terms of difficulty and content...if it's more broad like UW or can be pretty specific as nbme. However, I feel that the stuff that nbme asks is the high-yield specifics, hard to miss, unless it's silly mistakes, which in my situation is just 😡

 

[burningheat]

I wonder how the real deal pairs up with nbme/UW in terms of difficulty and content...if it's more broad like UW or can be pretty specific as nbme. However, I feel that the stuff that nbme asks is the high-yield specifics, hard to miss, unless it's silly mistakes, which in my situation is just 😡

i felt it was similar. i sat the real deal today lol

 

[Jonari]

i felt it was similar. i sat the real deal today lol

congrats man, i'm sure it went well. looking forward to getting your insight on the exam. 🙂

 

[Geekchick921]

So, I am now in my dedicated study period. For now, I am just doing some UWorld sets on tutor to see how I stand. I think I may have psyched myself out, because the questions aren't as terrible as I expected. Granted, my percentage so far has been in the mid-50s, but I presumed I would be even lower to start out.

My plan is to do mostly UWorld during the 4 1/2 weeks I have left. I am also planning on watching the first few chapters of Pathoma, that I never did over the course of MS-2 (most of that stuff we covered at the end of MS-1, before I started using the book), reading the first 250-or so pages of FA (which is all the biochem, biostats, microbio and pharm principles) and drilling the rapid review stuff in the back. I'm also annotating the educational objections from each question into FA, if I didn't get it right or I feel the explanation is better than what's already printed in FA.

My school had us take a 4-set NBME on Wednesday but we haven't gotten the results yet. I am hoping to pull at least a 240. It's on.

 

[blaqmamba]

So, I am now in my dedicated study period. For now, I am just doing some UWorld sets on tutor to see how I stand. I think I may have psyched myself out, because the questions aren't as terrible as I expected. Granted, my percentage so far has been in the mid-50s, but I presumed I would be even lower to start out.

My plan is to do mostly UWorld during the 4 1/2 weeks I have left. I am also planning on watching the first few chapters of Pathoma, that I never did over the course of MS-2 (most of that stuff we covered at the end of MS-1, before I started using the book), reading the first 250-or so pages of FA (which is all the biochem, biostats, microbio and pharm principles) and drilling the rapid review stuff in the back. I'm also annotating the educational objections from each question into FA, if I didn't get it right or I feel the explanation is better than what's already printed in FA.

My school had us take a 4-set NBME on Wednesday but we haven't gotten the results yet. I am hoping to pull at least a 240. It's on.

as people keep saying, using UW as a learning tool is key, don't worry about that percentage. Also, sounds like you're confident in your study plan, which is good and it'll help you as you get closer to the test.

I would recommend really reading those explanations and filling in any gaps in FA, because FA really does leave out some details, that although may be 'low-yield', help me better understand that point FA was trying to make. Last thing, I might consider buying at least one of the NBME's online (12, 13, 15) to take close to your test date

.Let us know how that school-administered NBME went....btw, any idea which NBME it is that they gave you guys?

 

[stronghold]

You haven't forgotten the info. It sits in your preconscious, not conscious, state. On the real deal, particularly late in the exam after you've built considerable momentum, certain buzzwords / question structures will trigger the information to explode to the surface, whereas before the exam you probably thought you had forgotten most things.

Thanks a lot Phloston. Thanks to all people who support and provide feedback!

Suddenly the idiot who decided to memorize the different functions of the individual G-protein receptor subunits got his payout. On the other hand, the same idiot didn't spend the time to learn the T-cell receptor structure, but the question coincidentally asked him about the G-protein receptor instead; it was a total toss-up and he got "lucky."

Haaa. When I read that sentence, I though you are talking about me! When I encountered the G-protein, I memorized them and thought they are high-yield. If you ask me about the T-cell receptor, I even forgot what it is! BTW, I have not started reading from the FA yet.

 

[suji0]

took nbme 5 yesterday and hit a 210 (450)...the cbssa i had taken a month earlier gave me a 74(210) i think if i remember correctly. I have done over a 1000 rx questions and reviewed biochem, neuroanatomy, and stuff all between these two assessment and my score is still the same, relatively frustrating (thought i was learning alot more). granted my low score in cbse was in biochem and respiratory, but in my nbme5 it was in GI instead?

anyone experience anything similar/care to shed some insight on a dumb child like me? exam is in about 2 months, finish classes at the end of this month and about 5.5 weeks to study after

 

[NickNaylor]

took nbme 5 yesterday and hit a 210 (450)...the cbssa i had taken a month earlier gave me a 400 (200ish?) i think if i remember correctly. I have done over a 1000 rx questions and reviewed biochem, neuroanatomy, and stuff all between these two assessment and my score is still about the same, relatively frustrating (thought i was learning alot more)

This my greatest fear when I take another NBME next week. Not sure what to say other than to keep powering through and keep your chin up.

 

[CDI]

took nbme 5 yesterday and hit a 210 (450)...the cbssa i had taken a month earlier gave me a 74(210) i think if i remember correctly. I have done over a 1000 rx questions and reviewed biochem, neuroanatomy, and stuff all between these two assessment and my score is still the same, relatively frustrating (thought i was learning alot more). granted my low score in cbse was in biochem and respiratory, but in my nbme5 it was in GI instead?

anyone experience anything similar/care to shed some insight on a dumb child like me? exam is in about 2 months, finish classes at the end of this month and about 5.5 weeks to study after

I forget who mentioned it but I think what could help is drilling a selected 20-30 high yield concept diagrams that you have consistent trouble with.

There are certain pages in FA or UW which we all tend to put off for another day because they're just painful (annoying) to look at. Start drawing them out every few days.

Definitely keep hitting UW. It can be a PITA to keep flipping back to FA while doing UW, so another option is to just nail your weakest chapters (indicated by NBME) in FA in the mornings, then do UW the rest of the day. (That's what Phloston had recommended to me as well, I had felt that helped.)

Also, depending on how you learn either re-summarize the UW answer in your own words, and/or type a note on it. That should help in you remembering the material.

 

[suji0]

Well I haven't started uworld but if I need to start now instead of rx I can? Should I take another nbme in the next 2 weeks after hitting those subjects hard or should I save them for later?

 

[CDI]

Well I haven't started uworld but if I need to start now instead of rx I can? Should I take another nbme in the next 2 weeks after hitting those subjects hard or should I save them for later?

Are you almost done with Rx?
FA + Rx seem to correlate with NBME pretty well. I guess you could hit your weak topics now (close the gaps) in FA while finishing Rx. Then take an NBME in 2 weeks.

After that you could hit UW while doing runs of FA. UW is worth putting time into though, so if it comes down to it, or you tend to work slower/take notes, start on UW earlier. You can't go wrong with UW.

 

[suji0]

I started rx on april 25, have done bout 1000 ?s (only medium/hard ones). I was hoping to do 150/day but hahe only been averaging 100 caus of some requires classes tjay waste alot of time

 

[DopaDO]

Hey guys,

I'm an M2 with USMLE scheduled on June 3. Being a DO I really want to rock this thing so I can keep all my options open. So far I have done all of Kaplan Qbank and been through all of FA and pathoma. My Qbank average was 60% (all random and timed) but my last 600 or so questions have consistently been in the high 60's low 70's. I took NBME 6 2 days ago and scored a 440 (207). I'm kinda freaking out a little bit. Im hoping it was a fluke as ive seen a correlation of 65% Qbank scores equating to somewhere in the 230's. I have heard NBME 6 was a little more difficult (plz tell me if you disagree), plus I have not started Uworld yet so I'm hoping that will help my score a lot. Do you think I'm in trouble right now as someone who wants a minimum of 240 (really 250)? Any and all advice is definitely appreciated.

 

[CDI]

Hey guys,

I'm an M2 with USMLE scheduled on June 3. Being a DO I really want to rock this thing so I can keep all my options open. So far I have done all of Kaplan Qbank and been through all of FA and pathoma. My Qbank average was 60% (all random and timed) but my last 600 or so questions have consistently been in the high 60's low 70's. I took NBME 6 2 days ago and scored a 440 (207). I'm kinda freaking out a little bit. Im hoping it was a fluke as ive seen a correlation of 65% Qbank scores equating to somewhere in the 230's. I have heard NBME 6 was a little more difficult (plz tell me if you disagree), plus I have not started Uworld yet so I'm hoping that will help my score a lot. Do you think I'm in trouble right now as someone who wants a minimum of 240 (really 250)? Any and all advice is definitely appreciated.

If you're under a 220 (some would even say 230) it means there is still plenty of FA work to be done, regardless of Qbank performance.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

took nbme 5 yesterday and hit a 210 (450)...the cbssa i had taken a month earlier gave me a 74(210) i think if i remember correctly. I have done over a 1000 rx questions and reviewed biochem, neuroanatomy, and stuff all between these two assessment and my score is still the same, relatively frustrating (thought i was learning alot more). granted my low score in cbse was in biochem and respiratory, but in my nbme5 it was in GI instead?

anyone experience anything similar/care to shed some insight on a dumb child like me? exam is in about 2 months, finish classes at the end of this month and about 5.5 weeks to study after

~2 weeks ago I took a school given cbssa then the following day took nbme 5. I scored 74(210) and 193 respectively. Reviewing my NBME 5 it seems like a really steep curve (I would put my % correct in the mid 70s, though in the 2 short weeks it's been, some of the concepts I missed seem common sense now)

So all in all, figure there's a decent chance you would have gotten a much lower score on your nbme had you taken it the same time you took your cbssa.

 

[Geekchick921]

as people keep saying, using UW as a learning tool is key, don't worry about that percentage. Also, sounds like you're confident in your study plan, which is good and it'll help you as you get closer to the test.

I would recommend really reading those explanations and filling in any gaps in FA, because FA really does leave out some details, that although may be 'low-yield', help me better understand that point FA was trying to make. Last thing, I might consider buying at least one of the NBME's online (12, 13, 15) to take close to your test date

.Let us know how that school-administered NBME went....btw, any idea which NBME it is that they gave you guys?

Thanks for the response, man!

I was very uncertain of that study plan, but I do think it will be the best use of my time, so I'm committing to it now. And I will definitely take at least one online NBME, as I get closer to my test date.

I have no idea which one it was, or if it's one of the ones that's for sale on the website for practice. I got a 70, which coincides with a 200. I guess that's good, right? For taking it cold before any Step 1 studying? I mean... if nothing else it means I'm not likely to fail the real deal.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

Thanks for the response, man!

I was very uncertain of that study plan, but I do think it will be the best use of my time, so I'm committing to it now. And I will definitely take at least one online NBME, as I get closer to my test date.

I have no idea which one it was, or if it's one of the ones that's for sale on the website for practice. I got a 70, which coincides with a 200. I guess that's good, right? For taking it cold before any Step 1 studying? I mean... if nothing else it means I'm not likely to fail the real deal.

The school given cbbsas aren't available on the NBME website so you don't need to worry about purchasing a repeat

 

[Geekchick921]

Ah, good to know. Thank you!

 

[suji0]

Are you almost done with Rx?
FA + Rx seem to correlate with NBME pretty well. I guess you could hit your weak topics now (close the gaps) in FA while finishing Rx. Then take an NBME in 2 weeks.

After that you could hit UW while doing runs of FA. UW is worth putting time into though, so if it comes down to it, or you tend to work slower/take notes, start on UW earlier. You can't go wrong with UW.

Well I have done a little more than 1/3rd of the questions, but I dont think ill end up doing any of the "easy" marked ones, so I have about 1500 left of medium/hard ones

 

[DMHenry]

Hey everyone!

I'm new to the forums. I just took Step 1 today and I didn't feel like it was that bad. I actually think it was somewhat easier that the tests I had during basic sciences. Upon starting the exam blocks 1 and 2 were extremely easy. I may have missed 2-4 questions from each of those blocks. However, as I moved on through the blocks they seemed to get progressively harder. So, I probably marked anywhere from 5-10 questions/block so that has me kinda worried. I'm confident that I scored above a 220 but my aim was a 250. So, I'm already anticipating my score.

 

[NickNaylor]

Hey everyone!

I'm new to the forums. I just took Step 1 today and I didn't feel like it was that bad. I actually think it was somewhat easier that the tests I had during basic sciences. Upon starting the exam blocks 1 and 2 were extremely easy. I may have missed 2-4 questions from each of those blocks. However, as I moved on through the blocks they seemed to get progressively harder. So, I probably marked anywhere from 5-10 questions/block so that has me kinda worried. I'm confident that I scored above a 220 but my aim was a 250. So, I'm already anticipating my score.

This is reassuring. Thanks.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[fleshwound]

I'm missing questions b/c some of the stems are obfuscated in really cryptic ways. And I don't even mean uncommon presentations of common dzs, but rather uncommon wordings/descriptions of classic stuff. I can only assume doing more Qs and more exposure will make this aspect easier, but realistically, for seasoned veterans, how many questions in a block still make you think wtf is this?

 

[Greenbayslacker]

Does any one know how the curve works for scoring? Are you curved against people who took it the same day as you, or is it an aggregate of all the scores thus far for the form you had?

 

[normtheniner]

Thanks for the response, man!

I was very uncertain of that study plan, but I do think it will be the best use of my time, so I'm committing to it now. And I will definitely take at least one online NBME, as I get closer to my test date.

I have no idea which one it was, or if it's one of the ones that's for sale on the website for practice. I got a 70, which coincides with a 200. I guess that's good, right? For taking it cold before any Step 1 studying? I mean... if nothing else it means I'm not likely to fail the real deal.

I know more than one person in the M3 class here that broke 250 on the real thing with the school administered exam giving them scores in the mid-60's (CBSSA in March and real thing in mid June). You'll be fine.

 

[Phloston]

Does any one know how the curve works for scoring? Are you curved against people who took it the same day as you, or is it an aggregate of all the scores thus far for the form you had?

Two possibilities:

1) People get identical exams.

For instance, there could be 25 potential 322-question forms out there that are all scaled against one another so that their difficulties are comparable, and then people taking identical forms are scaled against each other.

2) People are allocated identical blocks.

For instance, there could be 175 potential blocks out there (if we assume that there are 25 different 322-question forms), where all blocks are scaled against one another to establish comparable difficulty, and then each person, with his or her different 7-block combinations, has scaled scores from each block that are averaged to derive the 3-digit score.

My guess is that people get entire identical exams.

--------

In the past, I had always thought that people get a random allocation of 322 questions from some massive database, but that can't be the case. How do I know that?

Although we are not supposed to talk about specifics from our exams, I had been emailed by a person who had taken his/her exam about a month after I had, where he/she had asked me about particular things that had shown up for clarification purposes, and we both shared four WTF questions on our Step1, where two of those four were roughly ten questions apart in the 5th block, and a third was during the 6th block.

Given the 5th block information, that supports hypothesis #2 above. However given the information overall, hypothesis #1 gains likelihood.

I believe this student and I probably had whole-exam raw scores that were compared against each other and scaled on a time-independent analysis scheme in order to derive our 3-digit outcomes.

New NBME exams likely reflect retired whole-exams. Repeat questions on current actual exams from previous NBMEs indicate that although people get duplicate whole-exams, a few of the questions are shared between forms.