Should I postpone?

[deathvvv]

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Studied for a month already

uworld : 58% first pass (did during clerkships in third year)
69% second pass (during one month of studying)

NBME6 (taken 2 weeks ago): 225 (440)
uwsa(taken today): 206! (450)

My test is on august 20th

Should I take it? Is there hope? I Just want to pass (>209)....

 

[wannabie]

I saw this, but I don't even know what to say, man. Are you AMG? IMG? DO? Okay Step 1 score? Do you need it to be in? We need some context.

 

[deathvvv]

Im AMG, My step 1 score is okay, but I really just need to have a passing Step 2 ck score (ie >209). But obviously I want to pass on the first try so I would prefer to have a score >220 before going into the exam. I never thought I would do this bad on the UWSA (it seemed very hard to me!). I dont know what to do now. I might have to suck it up and just take it and hope for the best. Any advice is appreciated

 

[tayberry]

Hey, I'm not sure what's going on with you but we have very similar stats so I thought maybe you can consider - I took the exam already last week.

UW first pass (3rd year) - 61% overall
UW second pass (6 weeks of studying) - 67% overall (last 6-8 average 71%)

NBME 4 - 200 (about 3 weeks before)
NBME 6 - 225 (about 2 weeks before)
UWSA - 242 (1 week before)
NBME 7 - 223 (3 days before)

Obviously I don't have my scores back yet so I don't know how I did, but I think usually UWSA > NBME for most people. I combed through a huge list of scores from several different forums to see if I should take my test and it seems like people have gotten similar NBME profiles to me but UWSA ended up being more predictive. I'm ok with 230's also so I went ahead and took it.

There's something strange going on with your UWSA. Did you take it under different conditions? Were you fatigued? If you are getting 69% cumulative the UWSA shouldn't seem to be super difficult. I found most of the question much easier than the UW normal questions. What's your last 6 block average in UW? In your second pass, did you recognize a lot of the questions?

I've seen from many threads that if UWSA is roughly the score you want, you should go for it, but I don't know why your UWSA is so low - either that is low or your NBME 6 is inflated. Similarly, how did you feel when you took NBME 6?

There's a few ways I think you can go about doing this. NBME 4 is very predictive, and so is the Free 150. Study hard for the next 2-3 days and take either the NBME 4 or the Free 150 as you would the actual thing. See which exam (NBME 6 or UWSA it's closer to). If you get >80% on Free 150, you will pass as long as something catastrophic doesn't happen, so you can also use that as a confidence booster. Just don't use up both resources early if you think you will postpone. NBME 7 is really hard and has really strange questions IMO.

I think you probably should be ok to pass given your NBME 6, but I'd hate for that to actually be a fluke and you're doing more around your UWSA range. You are in danger if that's actually your baseline, but based on my own performance and your UW average I think you probably should have a good base assuming your UW average isn't artificially inflated either...

Bottom line, you need to take NBME 4 or Free 150 to tell. If they corroborate with your NBME 6 and you think the UWSA may have been a fluke, then you should go for it.

 

[wannabie]

Hey, I'm not sure what's going on with you but we have very similar stats so I thought maybe you can consider - I took the exam already last week.

UW first pass (3rd year) - 61% overall
UW second pass (6 weeks of studying) - 67% overall (last 6-8 average 71%)

NBME 4 - 200 (about 3 weeks before)
NBME 6 - 225 (about 2 weeks before)
UWSA - 242 (1 week before)
NBME 7 - 223 (3 days before)

Obviously I don't have my scores back yet so I don't know how I did, but I think usually UWSA > NBME for most people. I combed through a huge list of scores from several different forums to see if I should take my test and it seems like people have gotten similar NBME profiles to me but UWSA ended up being more predictive. I'm ok with 230's also so I went ahead and took it.

There's something strange going on with your UWSA. Did you take it under different conditions? Were you fatigued? If you are getting 69% cumulative the UWSA shouldn't seem to be super difficult. I found most of the question much easier than the UW normal questions. What's your last 6 block average in UW? In your second pass, did you recognize a lot of the questions?

I've seen from many threads that if UWSA is roughly the score you want, you should go for it, but I don't know why your UWSA is so low - either that is low or your NBME 6 is inflated. Similarly, how did you feel when you took NBME 6?

There's a few ways I think you can go about doing this. NBME 4 is very predictive, and so is the Free 150. Study hard for the next 2-3 days and take either the NBME 4 or the Free 150 as you would the actual thing. See which exam (NBME 6 or UWSA it's closer to). If you get >80% on Free 150, you will pass as long as something catastrophic doesn't happen, so you can also use that as a confidence booster. Just don't use up both resources early if you think you will postpone. NBME 7 is really hard and has really strange questions IMO.

I think you probably should be ok to pass given your NBME 6, but I'd hate for that to actually be a fluke and you're doing more around your UWSA range. You are in danger if that's actually your baseline, but based on my own performance and your UW average I think you probably should have a good base assuming your UW average isn't artificially inflated either...

Bottom line, you need to take NBME 4 or Free 150 to tell. If they corroborate with your NBME 6 and you think the UWSA may have been a fluke, then you should go for it.

That's sound advice and the advice you want to hear. But if you're Step 1 score is okay and you're trying to match this year as an AMG, what's the rush? Take it when you know you're going to do okay because it might not be great if it falls below your Step 1 score.

 

[tayberry]

That's sound advice and the advice you want to hear. But if you're Step 1 score is okay and you're trying to match this year as an AMG, what's the rush? Take it when you know you're going to do okay because it might not be great if it falls below your Step 1 score.

Yes definitely. I had to go ahead and take it because my Step 1 is so low that honestly, even a 230 would be a drastic improvement. If you have 220+ on Step 1 and is not applying to a competitive specialty, just wait till later to take it.

 

[deathvvv]

Well to be honest Im applying to both Canadian and US matches (most likely matching to Canada) so all I need is a passing step 2 score. because of my scheduling conflicts I prefer to write next week. However, I obviously would like to pass.

Tayberry, now that you mentioned it, I do remember some questions during my second pass from uworld, but that doesnt account for my 225 on NBME 6. I was a little bit fatigued today but I also felt that way when I wrote NBME6 2 weeks ago. Maybe its just a bad day, hopefully NBME4 goes well in 5 days!