Scored very poorly on the NBME Form 12. What to do?

[nightrain117]

Alright guys, I scored a 390 (three-digit score 196) on the NBME form 12. I'm very confused right now, as it is extremely different from my predicted score from the Kaplan and UWorld Qbanks.

I got a 54% in Kaplan QBank, and a 58% on the UWorld Qbank, both of which predicted a 490 (three-digit score 219). That means I got 100 points lower than was predicted by TWO question banks!

I'm hoping this is some sort of glitch or something, as I did have to pause and close the test twice because people kept walking in on me, but I doubt this is the case. My USMLE is scheduled for June 21, a week from now, so what should I do? I'd like to take another NBME to make sure it wasn't some accident, but I'm honestly not sure what to do in this final week. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[palakas]

I was looking at your scores and noticed that you are probably referring to the following link for your correlations.

http://usmle-score-correlation.blogspot.com/

I don't believe this is as predictive as people are led to believe. I have yet to see anyone that has had their scores correlate at all with this chart. Yet it seems to have misled many people into thinking that they are more ready than they truly are.

I strongly believe that your true score is better represented by the NBME and there was likely no problem during your test.

This is just my opinion.

 

[Anosh0101]

NBME 12 is a pretty tough exam. How many questions did you get wrong on NBME 12?

 

[amj198]

Hmm I just took form 12 and my score was exactly the same as what I got on form 13, and 4 points below what I got on form 15. I would say that they all correlate pretty well with each other, and if anything, form 13 is harder, since I got one more question wrong on form 13 but still ended up with the same score as form 12.

Score predicting based off of Qbanks is kind of tricky because of all of the factors involved. NBMEs tend to be the best score predictors. Your best bet is to hit FA hard during this last week, really get a thorough review on it, and if you have time and confidence, take another NBME. If not, then more review and a good night's sleep before the exam is probably more useful than spending another 4 hours taking a practice exam.

 

[HoboCommander]

I would try to get a better grip on the fundamentals, like reading review books on subjects you are weak on. There's no point in re-reading FA at this point, you will just read it with the same wrong ideas as before. Later on, come back to FA and do UWorld again.

 

[projectlogic]

If I were you, I would take another NBME to make sure it wasn't a fluke or anything like that.

 

[HoboCommander]

196 is still passing, but if you wanted a higher score, you'd have to postpone your exam for an extra 2 weeks.