Took the test today, wanted to share my experience (It's a novel FYI). Thank you
@Ttubule for your experience, I lived vicariously through you for a few weeks.
Contrary to other reports, my test was basically exactly like the NBME's, not at all like Uworld (unfortunately, as you'll see later). I would say the majority of the questions were "Gimmie's", some required a bit more thinking, and around 2% were complete WTF. I mean, there is literally no way I could have prepared for those questions (not in UFAPs, Robbins, Boron & Baelpaep, or wikipedia) and I still can't find the answer to a few of them after searching. Honestly though, those were only one per 100 questions.
They are SO good at wording questions to make you think twice about your answer, it drives me crazy. I honestly don't see it as a test of your intelligence or grasp on material, as much as a test of whether you are able to read the test writer's mind. The only way I can describe it is like: "Your surf and turf has just arrived at the table. Your favorite food in the entire world is filet mignon, but you are also on vacation in the Caribbean, and haven't had lobster (your second favorite food) in over a three years. Which do you choose to taste first? A: Filet, B: Lobster, C: Asparagus, D: Throw your drink in the waiter's face." Again, most of the test is obvious, just like the NBME's... But it is these types of questions that stick out in your memory.
There were also a few questions that were difficult to decipher what they were asking. For example (not from my actual test); it would state "Bob has essential hypertension. He is given an ACE-inhibitor and his blood pressure decreases. What is the mechanism behind
this?
A) Increased cardiac output or TPR
B) Decreased AT2
C) Fibromuscular dysplasia
D) Renal artery stenosis
... I definitely read that as "what is the mechanism behind the BP decrease," not the mechanism behind the hypertension... but then 3 of the answers are related to the first part of Bob having HTN. It's like "which this are you talking about... the HTN or the pharm?" They are just so vague sometimes in what they are asking, it infuriates me.
For reference:
Baseline NBME 15: 14 weeks out: 203
UWSA1: 251 (5 weeks out)
NBME 17: 228 (4 weeks out)
NBME 13: 238 (3 weeks out)
NBME 16: 240 (2.5 weeks out)
NBME 19: 238 (2 weeks out)
NBME 18: 240 (1 week out)
UWSA 2: 254 (1 week out)
NBME 12 (offline): 262 according to previous reports (2 days out)
UW first pass (timed, random) = 74%
Kaplan first pass (timed, random) = 78%
I'm not sure what it is, but I couldn't get the scores I wanted on the NBME's... Something about the way they write their questions just drives me nuts and makes me second guess myself (just like the real thing). I found Uworld questions were significantly more clear and in my opinion, better written (actually tests your knowledge base).
That said, I think I ended up with a 240 flat. My goal was 250, but it felt EXACTLY like the NBME's... and I averaged right around there in the weeks leading up to the test. I made quite a few mistakes (basic embryology... think drawings of gastrulation, what is the best thing to say to the patient, etc), but also got some challenging questions correct (some of the "one-liners" from FA). Overall, it was 7 blocks of NBME's.
My first 2 blocks were cake... I marked 4 questions between the two and felt confident in my answers. Then I got wrecked, marked 25 in block 2, ~15 in blocks 3 and 4. Went for a run during lunch which helped clear my head, but the last few blocks had ~ 6 "what answer are you looking for" type of questions. Overall, it really wasn't so bad, but I do wish they would be more clear in what they are asking (like Uworld or Kaplan).
