Ok, so I'm another "normal" ... 219/91
nbme 1 [3.5 weeks out] -221
nbme 2 [2.5 weeks out] - 221
Kaplan full length simulated exam [1 week before test] - 70%
nbme 3 [5 days before test] 240
Q-bank - 61% [score] through 65% of the question bank. Towards end averaging in mid 60's [64%]...sometimes I would score 70%+ but would drop all the way back to 58% ...so, as mentioned I averaged out around mid 60's in last couple weeks
Also did ~ 30% usmlerx ...it's ok, really just tests if you know 1st Aid [which isn't a bad thing ...but I would use World instead of this q-bank after looking at this forum]
Books: 1st Aid, BRS Path, BRS Physio, Goljan audio [~2/3]; some flashcards [pharm, path, micro] in my "spare" time
I guess what frustrated me was that 1 week out I did well on the full length Kaplan exam, and then 5 days out I did very well [espec by my standards] on nbme form 3. however, I felt Kaplan's simulated exam was a little easier than when I would just randonly select 50 questions off of Q-bank, but maybe I just had a really good day when I took Kaplan's full length. As for nbme 3, I almost felt like they wrote that test for me ...for some reason it just tested what I knew, so I think I "overscored" ...ie even after I was done, I knew I did better than I should have ... I didn't really think I would score that on the real exam, and thought it was overestimating where I likely was by at least 10 pts [unless I got super-lucky and got the perfect test]. Anyways, perhaps these scores during the last week gave me a false sense of confidence heading into the test, bc I felt like if I had a solid day I should score high 220's, maybe low 230's
My goals from the beginning was 230, since everyone says that is the "screening" number, but would have been pleased with 225. On the test day I was confident going in but quickly got discouraged...the questions were quite different than Q-bank in my opinion. The format varied quite a bit, with some extremely long questions with pics or tons of labs, and then some really short, etc...not to say I couldn't adapt to this different style, but Q-bank doesn't have enough variation in their questions, and could add more photos among other things. I just got introduced to this website, wish I had seen in few months ago, but sounds like USMLE World is the way to go...so for future tester's, I recommend at least mixing up these question banks [World and Q-bank] to get a feel for different styles. One other thing was time - the actual test took me longer than Q-bank's questions, once again due in part to the variation ...I would spend too much time on some of the lengthy questions, and get discouraged/intimidated by them, even if the weren't that difficult. Once again, a familiarity issue...perhaps using World would have helped resolve that [I suspect so]. Anyways, the thing that hurt me the most was that I got fatigued and careless in the last 3 or so blocks [didn't sleep the night before], missing lots of concepts I knew [after thinking back on questions] ...the key is THINK THINK THINK ....all the way to the end. All they do is manipulate concepts you have seen in slightly different ways, you just have to clearly and logically formulate in your head what they are asking [oftentimes it's not all that complicated!!!]
One quick question, if someone gets a chance ...does anyone have an idea how Q-bank average relates to actual test [ie if you are scoring about 65% on average, does that correlate with a 220, etc?]. ok, that's all for now, quite a lengthy post....