The ones that stick out the most were ones that involved asking how to treat commonly hit on pathogens in sketchy, but none of the drugs they taught in sketchy were options, or even in the same class of drug, made guessing challenging.
I predicted this would happen some time ago: NBME would eventually revise their questions and catch up to Sketchy, just like they caught up to Pathoma.
To find an open center and take the test as soon as possible. You scored a 262 on NBME 17. Take it now.
No, this is not how the USMLE works. If he wants the best opportunity at hitting 260+ on the real deal, he should continue to study until his scheduled test date. This will give himself the highest probability at securing the score he wants. One 262 on an NBME is not an indicator that you are actually a strong candidate for that score on the real deal. If he has scored 260+ on multiple NBMEs, I'd say his pre-test probability for reaching 260+ might be
>40%, but he hasn't. Based on his NBMEs, and based on my own personal experience and thoughts about the predictive ability of these practice tests, he is generally capable of scoring in a range of 232-262. His NBME average of 249 pushes him toward the mid-upper-end of this range, so I'd say his chances on the real deal are approximately:
40-60% - 232-250
30-40% - 240-255
10-30% - 255+
I hope I'm wrong. I hope this guy quotes me in a few months saying he crushed my predictions and broke 265. However, all I'm trying to get at with this post is that to tell someone who you don't know that he should rush into the most important exam of their life just because they scored well on one recent NBME is a
bad advice when their track record does not indicate 260 range. He should gradually approach test day, each day fine-tuning his weaknesses and sharpening his strengths, all while mentally preparing for the big day. To spend any extra money to move his test date up would do nothing to his pre-test chances of scoring 260+. However, another week of UWorld and mental preparation may boost him to 30-50% chance at scoring 260+, especially given his upward trend.
By your logic, I should have taken step 1 after my 2nd day of dedicated, when I scored 258 on NBME 11. If I took the exam at that time, based on my CBSE (98/260+) and scores in MS1/MS2, I probably had a pre-test chance of 260+ of roughly 40-60%. However, after weeks of studying, mentally preparing, and consistently scoring 260+ on every subsequent NBME and UWSA, my pre-test probability of scoring 260+ was probably closer to 70-90%. As you can see, I increased my chances, so that when I actually took the exam I was able to score where I wanted to even though I had merely a slightly above average test day. If I had rushed into taking the exam after scoring a 258 on NBME 11, weeks before my scheduled date (like you would have suggested), my "slightly above average test day" at the time may have only yielded a 250-260 (great score, but not what I wanted).
Also, is it worth taking a Prometric practice session and if so, how many days before the test should I schedule it?
100%. Schedule 3-7 days before if you can. Also, don't worry about your UWorld score predictions. The NBMEs are the only accurate predictors unless you are in 260+ range on UWSAs, then those are relatively correlative.
This is all my own opinion and speculation, please take it with a grain of salt. Good luck.
That would be insane! Does anyone else think so?