Step I Practice NBME Exams

[PAGuyana]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Which NBME is recommended as an initial diagnostic exam? What exams are good to take after the diagnostic?

 

[ijn]

All of them. If you can't afford all of them, then do 11, 12, 13.

 

[PAGuyana]

In that order?

 

[ijn]

It's all up to you. There's no advantage to any certain order.

 

[Eilat87]

What forms can we buy? 1 all the way to 13?

 

[futuredoctor10]

All of them. If you can't afford all of them, then do 11, 12, 13.

What about time? It seems like in a 5-6 week dedicated study period, doing all NBMEs would take a couple of days in total. Do you & others think this is worth the time investment?

 

[johndoe3344]

Up to you. They are a good source of questions, their predictive capabilities notwithstanding. I had a 6 week dedicated period, I've done 3 NBMEs, 2 UWSAs, and I'll do one more NBME before my exam next week.

 

[futuredoctor10]

Up to you. They are a good source of questions, their predictive capabilities notwithstanding. I had a 6 week dedicated period, I've done 3 NBMEs, 2 UWSAs, and I'll do one more NBME before my exam next week.

Cool have you been doing one each week? Any recommendations for which NBMEs to do? 11, 12, 13 I have heard -- any particular order?

 

[phd89]

what about forms 3,5 Taus says to start the diagnostic by NBME 5, are the older exams easier or harder than the newer ones and do they tend to over or under predict your real USMLE score

 

[johndoe3344]

Cool have you been doing one each week? Any recommendations for which NBMEs to do? 11, 12, 13 I have heard -- any particular order?

I bought NBMEs 6, 7, 11, and 12. I can't comment on 13 except from what I heard around various forums -- and that it's ridiculously hard. No particular order, though I would save one of the 11,12,13 for the end.

 

[wacritchlow]

I did 12 a month and a half ago. I did 11 Sunday, 6 Monday, and 7 today. My test is one week from today.
11 seemed the hardest to me. 6 didn't seem representative of what I expect the exam to be like. 7 seemed like it was the fairest and best-worded, but I don't remember 12 all that clearly. I plan to do 13 this weekend.

I'm using them mainly as exposure to more questions. You know they're good ones. I don't think of it as a waste of four hours, I think of it as four hours spent studying.

 

[ijn]

13 felt harder than 11/12 but I bet it's the most likely to have word for word repeats on the real exam. It's well worth the $60.