Step 1 Practice Tests

[osumc2014]

Hi,

I was wondering what practice tests do most people take? NBME ones? USMLERx? I have no idea what people take to study for step 1, please help me out! Also which ones are the most predictive/similar to the real thing?

Thanks!!

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[auburnO5]

I would that they are all useful, but the NBME's are most like the real thing from what I have heard.

NBME 6, 7, 11, 12, and 13 all seem to be pretty popular, and fairly accurate at predicting your score.

 

[NightSwim]

My test is in a few weeks, so I can't answer which ones are most predictive, but I can tell you what's out there. There are 7 NBME practice exams listed on their site - 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, and 13. The higher the number the more recent. Those exams have former questions, I believe, so I'd say they have the most representative questions to the real exam. Unfortunately, you don't get solutions. You only get to see the questions you get wrong. Then I had to search the internet for answers.

Usmleworld is a question bank that is far and away the best resource (imo) in addition to first aid. It has 2100 questions along with 2 full practice tests. I recommend doing all of uworld and their practice tests. It has a ton of information, trust me. I was using usmlerx, but stopped a few weeks ago because uworld is simply better and I want to get through it. So far I've done NBME 7 and UWSA 1 (uworld self-assessment 1), and they both seemed pretty realistic, much better than Rx (though rx is a good study source).

 

[Phloston]

I recommend USMLE Rx if you have time. It helps reinforce the FA well. To that effect, you should consider Rx and FA collectively one resource. You'll be surprised to find how much of the fine detail from FA you've overlooked only after having gone through Rx.

And as Nightswim has suggested, obviously do UWorld, but I would do this AND Kaplan and USMLE Rx QBanks if you find time. If you only have time to do one QBank, do UWorld, but if you can, do Rx and Kaplan for sure.

The NBME exams should be taken to gauge your weaknesses and strengths (and also possible future score). These should be taken interspersed throughout your study timeline. Perhaps do your first one after you've read FA, the second after you've finished Rx, and so forth. But yes, definitely do the NBMEs in addition to the QBanks.

 

[kaleerkalut]

My test is in a few weeks, so I can't answer which ones are most predictive, but I can tell you what's out there. There are 7 NBME practice exams listed on their site - 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, and 13. The higher the number the more recent. Those exams have former questions, I believe, so I'd say they have the most representative questions to the real exam. Unfortunately, you don't get solutions. You only get to see the questions you get wrong. Then I had to search the internet for answers.

Usmleworld is a question bank that is far and away the best resource (imo) in addition to first aid. It has 2100 questions along with 2 full practice tests. I recommend doing all of uworld and their practice tests. It has a ton of information, trust me. I was using usmlerx, but stopped a few weeks ago because uworld is simply better and I want to get through it. So far I've done NBME 7 and UWSA 1 (uworld self-assessment 1), and they both seemed pretty realistic, much better than Rx (though rx is a good study source).

Basically I've been thinking about taking out a whole day of studying and doing 2 NBME's back to back to get a feel for what the real deal is gonna be like to see how I do w/ the exhaustion (yes I realize that I will be doing one extra block). The only problem is that I have 2 reads of FA planned (each exactly 7 days):

2 weeks from my test: 1 read
1 week from my test: 2nd pass of FA

If I decide to go through and do the back-to-back NBMEs then I will either have to cut my first read of FA from 7 days to 6 days. Also, I will be doing this the day before I start my 1st pass of FA so it will very much so exhaust me I'm sure.

Bottom line: not sure I should do it (though I have not taken any NBME exams other than my school administered CBSSA). If I do go through with it, which 2 would everybody say to do? I was thinking 12 & 13 since they are the most recent and difficult from what I understand.

Thanks 🙂