So overwhelmed!! If anyone has any advice for me please..

[Histamine103]

I'm a caribbean medical student, I've taken a year off after 2nd year to study for step 1 before starting clinical rotations. I got a 210/153 on nbme 12 in December and managed to bring it up to a 440/207 on nbme 13 on April 6th. Now exactly 1 month later i took nbme 15 and got a 350/186. I'm absolutely devastated. My exam is booked for for first week of June and i am so burnt out i don't want push it back any longer. I've been studying for over a year. I've been searching online but there's very little information about nbme 15. I assume the most recent one is the most predictive of our actual step. I really do not want to push this exam back, but im worried about even getting a spot for residency at all with such low scores. I was hoping for family medicine in rural parts of USA but even now that seems out of reach. (btw I'm a Canadian citizen.. No green card). I would really appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. Thank you!! *Also if i don't write this within the next month i will have to wait til 2016 to apply for residency due to my 72 weeks clinical rotations that i still have yet to complete, as well as my step 2 ck and cs.

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[Jamiu22]

I'm a caribbean medical student, I've taken a year off after 2nd year to study for step 1 before starting clinical rotations. I got a 210/153 on nbme 12 in December and managed to bring it up to a 440/207 on nbme 13 on April 6th. Now exactly 1 month later i took nbme 15 and got a 350/186. I'm absolutely devastated. My exam is booked for for first week of June and i am so burnt out i don't want push it back any longer. I've been studying for over a year. I've been searching online but there's very little information about nbme 15. I assume the most recent one is the most predictive of our actual step. I really do not want to push this exam back, but im worried about even getting a spot for residency at all with such low scores. I was hoping for family medicine in rural parts of USA but even now that seems out of reach. (btw I'm a Canadian citizen.. No green card). I would really appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. Thank you!! *Also if i don't write this within the next month i will have to wait til 2016 to apply for residency due to my 72 weeks clinical rotations that i still have yet to complete, as well as my step 2 ck and cs.

Are your deficiencies in one area or multiple areas.... are your missed questions something you should have gotten from first aid? you would really need to look at why you are not scoring what you desire.... with a month away.... that's really a worlds away.. and you can push it up to 230...

But the thing is, from what you've described, you are obviously doing something wrong. It seems like you don't know what your deficiencies are. Once you figure this out, you can figure out how to rectify it.

From what I've read on here on multiple occasions, the latest NBME15 isn't specifically predictive of your overall. What I've heard is that an aggregate of multiple NBMEs average (and taken closer to the exam) is indeed predictive of how you'll perform. Seeing that you got 186, 210...shows that you are somewhere in the 190s range..... and your exam taken in that April would be somewhere between 170-220 (depending on the test)... now can you jump 20-50 points... I feel that it's definitely possible, but the question really is: are you willing to do what it takes?

Disclaimer: I'm yet to take the step1... and I might find myself in same situation as you in 2wks, lol.

 

[Histamine103]

Thanks for taking time out of ur busy schedule to read n reply to my post!! Unfortunately my weaknesses are all over the place everythings near borderline. I think I'm really lacking in recalling information. And to answer your question hell ya I'm up for it!!! My plan is to do DIT 15 days + a block of uworld incorrect qs n explanations per day + reading 25 PGs a day of goljans transcribed notes from his audio lectures (i havent even gone through those once yet)+ reviewing 5 star topics later at night before going to sleep. Hope all this does the trick! Good luck to you as well I'm sure it will go great! Thanks for that boost.. Really helped!!

 

[medpack87]

You will do fine mate, put all your effort into it. Are you going to do another NBME before your exam? (same medpack from the other forums btw)

 

[Textbookversion]

Are islander scores on their own curve? I mean a whole year geez.

 

[Histamine103]

Hey medpack, thanks for the reply earlier it really helped. Yes definitely. I've come to accept it and just study really hard for two weeks and then do nbme 11 and see where i stand then. I will pm you then. You've been very supportive and helpful. Thanks again.

 

[Histamine103]

Are islander scores on their own curve? I mean a whole year geez.

Hey you've got jokes haha. Nice. Actually I've had a lot going on in my life besides school and had to take a break also just to help out my family. Family always comes first. And yes in some ways i would agree that it does take longer for islanders to prepare, maybe not as long as i took but longer than AMGs because of the lack of prep from our med schools. Anyway, I have faith in myself to make it. Wish you all the best. Good luck!

 

[21385]

At this point, I would not think too much about the option of delaying it by another year. I think you need to convince yourself that delaying it is not an option, and try your hardest to get your scores up. Then, a week before your test date, do another test and see where you stand. If you are not in the passing range, I would consider delaying it at that point.

 

[Histamine103]

Also textbookversion, before you say it.. I fogot to mention, i do definitely know i am to blame for my mistakes of not working hard enough during my basic sciences but i have learnt from my mistakes and everyone makes those

 

[snfuse]

Just keep working hard and don't second guess your self for a minute. Just work at it systematically and if you're stuck on something and something clicks and you understand it. Then cement the knowledge by explaining it to someone else.
Good luck, you can do it! =)

 

[Histamine103]

At this point, I would not think too much about the option of delaying it by another year. I think you need to convince yourself that delaying it is not an option, and try your hardest to get your scores up. Then, a week before your test date, do another test and see where you stand. If you are not in the passing range, I would consider delaying it at that point.

Hey thanks for your encouraging words. I definitely will. Thank you, i just felt really overwhelmed earlier when i saw the 186 mark on nbme 15. I'm working really hard and will have to just see what happens on my next nbme. Regardless of however this exam turns out my goals for step 2 is a 235+ and to start my prep immediately instead of being a slacker :/ thanks again for your support. Wish you the very best.

 

[Histamine103]

Just keep working hard and don't second guess your self for a minute. Just work at it systematically and if you're stuck on something and something clicks and you understand it. Then cement the knowledge by explaining it to someone else.
Good luck, you can do it! =)

Thanks

 

[drk]

Without knowing exactly how you studied and what material you used etc I would say your best bet is to minimize your resources. All of them are pretty good that when studied well you can get yourself a 210+ easily.

Stick to First Aid and Usmleworld Q bank only. Do a subject in First Aid then do the relevant questions subject wise. You should be doing more reading than questions earlier so your revision of FA should finish before your 2200 questions. Then you can start randomizing your questions. You must go through your wrong questions then reset your qbank and do it again. Start appreciating certain symptoms and certain buzzwords, First Aid does a good job of focusing on those entirely.

There are like 100 diseases that are almost always asked on the exam, like MI/Hyperthyroidism/MEN that you should just know cold, i.e. every single subjects approach to that disease, for example for MI you should know the anatomy of the coronaries, you should know the pathology of atherosclerosis, the physiology of the coronaries. That will be 10-15% of your exam. Then there are the very common questions asked questions like Dermatomyositis with Gottrens pappule/Celiac Sprue with Dermatiform Herpetiform/Ureter injury with ligation during certain obstetric operations. You should know these all cold as they are the easiest points to get and points you dont ever want to lose. This will be another 10-15% of your exam. Once you have mastered these then you can start going into the more thinking intensive questions.

In the end, questions questions questions and make notes on all the questions you got wrong. The exam always feels pretty tough and you will never be able to know everything but there are certain systematic ways to approach it to at least guarantee a passing/average score.

Good luck!

 

[skyblue2000]

Without knowing exactly how you studied and what material you used etc I would say your best bet is to minimize your resources. All of them are pretty good that when studied well you can get yourself a 210+ easily.

Stick to First Aid and Usmleworld Q bank only. Do a subject in First Aid then do the relevant questions subject wise. You should be doing more reading than questions earlier so your revision of FA should finish before your 2200 questions. Then you can start randomizing your questions. You must go through your wrong questions then reset your qbank and do it again. Start appreciating certain symptoms and certain buzzwords, First Aid does a good job of focusing on those entirely.

There are like 100 diseases that are almost always asked on the exam, like MI/Hyperthyroidism/MEN that you should just know cold, i.e. every single subjects approach to that disease, for example for MI you should know the anatomy of the coronaries, you should know the pathology of atherosclerosis, the physiology of the coronaries. That will be 10-15% of your exam. Then there are the very common questions asked questions like Dermatomyositis with Gottrens pappule/Celiac Sprue with Dermatiform Herpetiform/Ureter injury with ligation during certain obstetric operations. You should know these all cold as they are the easiest points to get and points you dont ever want to lose. This will be another 10-15% of your exam. Once you have mastered these then you can start going into the more thinking intensive questions.

In the end, questions questions questions and make notes on all the questions you got wrong. The exam always feels pretty tough and you will never be able to know everything but there are certain systematic ways to approach it to at least guarantee a passing/average score.

Good luck!

I think you're the first person I've read saying that FA and Uworld will get you a 210+?? Most ppl swear by the at least 230+ score!!

 

[medpack87]

I think you're the first person I've read saying that FA and Uworld will get you a 210+?? Most ppl swear by the at least 230+ score!!

I doubt many people got 230+ by only used FA and Uworld. You need to compliment with Kaplan, or some other source, like Goljan at least. FA doesnt work by itself, even the author state that in their introduction

 

[skyblue2000]

I doubt many people got 230+ by only used FA and Uworld. You need to compliment with Kaplan, or some other source, like Goljan at least. FA doesnt work by itself, even the author state that in their introduction

Oh right, I guess you're right. Guess I was just thinking in terms of a prep course or just using notes. But that's true, I couldn't imagine JUST doing FA and UW.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I doubt many people got 230+ by only used FA and Uworld. You need to compliment with Kaplan, or some other source, like Goljan at least. FA doesnt work by itself, even the author state that in their introduction

Oh right, I guess you're right. Guess I was just thinking in terms of a prep course or just using notes. But that's true, I couldn't imagine JUST doing FA and UW.

Huh? Yes, FA + UWorld can get you over 230.

 

[medpack87]

Huh? Yes, FA + UWorld can get you over 230.

As I said. I doubt many people get +230 with ONLY FA + Uworld. But there are always exceptions. Just as doing kaplan + FA + Goljan + Uworld doesn´t always yield a high score on everyone. If you can achieve high scores with only FA and Uworld then that is awesome and you shuld be proud of yourself.