Three days before my exam, I'm a complete mess

[mcatwoes]

I already took an exam 2 days ago and it completely broke me. I took NBME 17 and got a 213. I got 42 questions wrong and I changed 5-6 answers from correct to incorrect. I made stupid mistakes. This wouldnt be so bad if I didn't get a 213 on NBME 16 as well (three weeks ago), however I got 48 wrong on that one. I can't believe how the curve is on 17. It's unforgiving and it's not fair to see the same score even though I did better. My scores are all over the damn place.

Since my dedicated I got:

• NBME13: 232
• NBME15: 217
• NBME16: 213
• NBME17: 213

I feel like I'm the only person in the world that has been regressing. The problem is that each NBME hits a topic I am weak at and it's different for each one. For example NBME 15 I was weak in MSK and repro, so I fixed it and killed it in NBME 16 but that exam showed me I sucked at biochem and renal, so I fixed it and killed it in NBME 17 and that exam went back and told me I suck at repro and MSK again!? It's like I just can't win.

I did UW first time random and got around low 60s. Second time UW random timed, around 85-86% and got only about <40% done. I just can't win on these NBMEs because it doesn't seem like they are balanced exams. NBME 17 I had a ton of repro and MSK questions, mainly skin. My exam is in 3 days and I wanted to take UWSA1 to show myself that I am not stupid and that I can get a decent score. But I am scared I will do poorly. I am having a hard time motivating myself to study for the past 2 days since I took NBME 17. I'm burnt out, I'm tired and so emotional. I'm and IMG (US citizen) and I wanted a decent score to help me match IM. I feel like all my hard work is just going to waste and that I am ****ing up the last week before my exam. I already delayed once and I just don't know if I can do it again. I am trying to go through my notecards and just reviewing everything but that 213 is lingering on my mind and makes me feel inadequate.

How do I deal with this? Should I take UWSA1? Any words would help me greatly. I'm being realistic. I am not a 230+ person. I thought I could be. But 213 is really low in my eyes and just makes me feel worthless because I gave it my all and it wasnt enough.

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[med217]

You can be a 230+ person, you just need to study more. Try UW1, if you're not where you want to be then just defer and continue studying.

 

[Kazaki]

Start by blaming yourself instead of blaming the exam.
Best of luck

 

[mcatwoes]

Start by blaming yourself instead of blaming the exam.
Best of luck

Trust me I blame myself daily.

 

[Kazaki]

Trust me I blame myself daily.

Yeah then what? There's no use in blaming yourself if all its gonna do is put you down even more. Use that anger and frustration to focus on acing this beast.
I'd suggest postponing your exam. I think your weakness is that your blatantly memorizing instead of learning. Hence the drop in your score in repro and MSK.
Postpone the exam only if you know that you will change your learning method. If you're just gonna read through FA and repeat Uworld questions that you've already seen, you're setting yourself up for failure.
Best of luck.

 

[Qester]

Just looking at this I would say that you probably haven't been regressing and that NBME 13 was probably an outlier for you. How long have you been studying for? 3 weeks between NBME exams seems like a crazy amount of time

 

[MelMcT2009]

I already took an exam 2 days ago and it completely broke me. I took NBME 17 and got a 213. I got 42 questions wrong and I changed 5-6 answers from correct to incorrect. I made stupid mistakes. This wouldnt be so bad if I didn't get a 213 on NBME 16 as well (three weeks ago), however I got 48 wrong on that one. I can't believe how the curve is on 17. It's unforgiving and it's not fair to see the same score even though I did better. My scores are all over the damn place.

Since my dedicated I got:

• NBME13: 232
• NBME15: 217
• NBME16: 213
• NBME17: 213

I feel like I'm the only person in the world that has been regressing. The problem is that each NBME hits a topic I am weak at and it's different for each one. For example NBME 15 I was weak in MSK and repro, so I fixed it and killed it in NBME 16 but that exam showed me I sucked at biochem and renal, so I fixed it and killed it in NBME 17 and that exam went back and told me I suck at repro and MSK again!? It's like I just can't win.

I did UW first time random and got around low 60s. Second time UW random timed, around 85-86% and got only about <40% done. I just can't win on these NBMEs because it doesn't seem like they are balanced exams. NBME 17 I had a ton of repro and MSK questions, mainly skin. My exam is in 3 days and I wanted to take UWSA1 to show myself that I am not stupid and that I can get a decent score. But I am scared I will do poorly. I am having a hard time motivating myself to study for the past 2 days since I took NBME 17. I'm burnt out, I'm tired and so emotional. I'm and IMG (US citizen) and I wanted a decent score to help me match IM. I feel like all my hard work is just going to waste and that I am ****ing up the last week before my exam. I already delayed once and I just don't know if I can do it again. I am trying to go through my notecards and just reviewing everything but that 213 is lingering on my mind and makes me feel inadequate.

How do I deal with this? Should I take UWSA1? Any words would help me greatly. I'm being realistic. I am not a 230+ person. I thought I could be. But 213 is really low in my eyes and just makes me feel worthless because I gave it my all and it wasnt enough.

IMO the NBME subject breakdown was useless. If you actually look at how they categorize the questions, you'll see it's all over the place. (Ex: they may call a biochem question path). Just due to the overlap. So I definitely wouldn't use those for that purpose. Also, sometimes there are very few questions in a certain topic, or you may guessed correctly without really knowing it, giving you a false sense that you are strong in that area. You should have a good feel for what your weaknesses are. Target those areas regardless of what the NBME break down tells you. Several of my NBMEs said I was good at MSK/Skin stuff and I knew good and well that it was my worst topic.

Step back and reassess. Shoot straight with yourself, then move on from there