School NBME -> 235 (10 weeks out)
Uworld assessment 1 -> 257 (7 weeks out)
NBME 11 -> 251 (6 weeks out)
NBME 7 -> 254 (5 weeks out)
NBME 12 -> 254 (3 and half weeks out)
NBME 15 -> 258 (3 weeks out)
Kaplan Simulated 1: 80% (3 weeks out)
NBME 16 -> 258 (2 weeks out)
Kaplan Simulated 2: 83% ( 1 week out)
NBME 13 -> 254 ( 1 week out)
UWorld assessment 2 -> 265+ (3 days out)
Actual: 255
First off, the best prep is going to be learning your 2nd year material the best the first time around and the attitude in which you attack the material. Our school had a very hard path course and it forced you to study beyond the basic principles of the diseases but more into differentials, things that made each disease unique, etiology, epidemiology, and most if not all exam questions were 2nd and 3rd order (much like the board exam). Learn path, pharm and phyiso the best you can, especially physio and pharm. My test was heavy in anatomy which caught me off guard but the majority of the test even if you don't realize it is path, pharm, physio. Getting high scores in those three sections made it so that any other subject area wouldn't damage my score, getting good at those extra sections like anatomy and biostats would just push a 230 into a 240+. My lowest section was biostats and public health but that is just a personal thing, its always been my weakest next to behavioral science and the public health questions on the actual exam come out of left field so just be ready to know random facts or be a good test taker for those questions. The hardest part of the exam is endurance, the question stems are twice if not more than that of NBME and comparable to some Uworld stems but not most. Watch your time and don't get stuck on questions, i found myself getting stuck on genetics or experiment based questions for to long and regretted it because the next 10 after that were much easier. Take every single NBME and Uworld self assessment just to build up endurance and build test day habits that make your actual test less stressful. I would take each NBME/Uworld with 3 kaplan q bank blocks to simulate real time and wouldn't submit those last 3 blocks until the time ran out just to get use to answering questions tired and fatigued. You feel like crap after the test and everything is a blur but if your getting a consistent score between your NBME's you will get around its average even though you may have felt you bombed the test. Little if any of my test was first order so its important to really know everything you can about a disease and anticipate what they might ask or look out for keywords that will change the entire question. This happened many times during the actual test in which I was reading and was ready to answer, but caught one word that changed the entire question. You need to be able to read fast to get through the exam in time, but not so fast as to miss these tricky questions. The only way to get good at this is to as many questions as possible. Uworld is the #1 thing I recommend to getting a good score. If you can get through Uworld twice and really understand every explanation then you are set to do well. Adding another qbank like Kaplan was good for the low yield detail if you want to push past 230 and 240. As for my prep, take it with a grain of salt and find what works for you. The worst thing you can do is listen to everyone and try a million different things, only to end up lost in all your resources and out of time. The best time to start I believe is after the Christmas break in your second year and study maybe 2-3 hours for it during the term and then 6-8 weeks post term studying 12 hours or so everyday. I hoped to have beat 260 and was a bit frustrated that I got near the same score that I started with before my dedicated study period but the actual exam is so much harder then anything else that all that time must have helped in some way.
Prep:
DIT: I printed out the workbook and got it bound before my last semester started. Everyday I would watch 2-3 videos in the subject we were covering in pathphysiology, use the workbook to answer the questions, and add anything that wasn't in first aid or the workbook. I then ripped out workbook pages and added to my bound first aid book, only things that it did not have or rapid fire facts that DIT was good for. I got a not so legal copy of this so if money is tight then don't just go and buy this unless your doing it seriously in your dedicated study period.
Uworld first pass: 74% (Doing the same subject I was doing in DIT/pathophysiology)
Second pass: 92% (% Irrelevant since I remembered most of the questions) Random/Timed. Made sure to read the explanations well.
Kaplan Q bank first pass: 69% (Much harder then Uworld/details to crazy but good for anatomy/biochem and genetics)
First AID: I tried to make one master book/resource so I did not have to look at multiple resources during my final run. I got the book pulled out of its bindings and put it into a binder. I annotated Uworld into here and added DIT pages, but nothing more. I read the book completely during my last term to study for my pharm/pathophyisology exams and then again the week before my exam. The week before my exam I split the book into 6 days and got through about 100 pages a day or so, making lists of things I couldn't remember and then reading them over again the morning before I started reading again.
Pathoma: 3x times total
Kaplan: 6 weeks course at my school. Some professors were really good like Dr. Barone (worth the money alone) but others were hit or miss. The only good part about the course was that it forced me to stay focused during lecture and I just did questions to review when I got home. If you decide to take a course make sure it doesn't go all day because doing questions is #1. The only reason I did the course was to force me to stay on the island to study, housing on campus and it ended at 3 everyday which gave me time to do questions.
Other resources:
Uworld biostats
BRS Physio
Lippincott micro cards
Select Kaplan books like Behavioral science and Biochem
If anyone has questions feel free to ask. I felt like I did so much so its hard to right it all down. Everyone can do well on this test with hard work and a good attitude towards learning the material well the first time. I got a 22 on my MCAT twice, so don't let that poorly written test destroy your dreams.
